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The discovery of Pick Axe Alek’s Cabin. 

( Frontispiece ) ( Virginia's Romance.) 










VIRGINIA’S 

ROMANCE 


By GRACE MAY NORTH / 


Author of 

“Virginia of V. M. Ranch,” “Virginia at Vine Haven,” 
“Virginia’s Adventure Club,” “Virginia’s 
Ranch Neighbors.” 



A. L. BURT COMPANY 
Publishers New York 

Printed in U. S. A. 
















vZ'1 




v 


THE 

VIRGINIA DAVIS SERIES 


A SERIES OF STORIES FOR GIRLS OF TWELVE 
TO SIXTEEN YEARS OF AGE 

By GRACE MAY NORTH 


VIRGINIA OF V. M. RANCH 
VIRGINIA AT VINE HAVEN 
VIRGINIA’S ADVENTURE CLUB 
VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 
VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


By 


Copyright, 1924 
A. L. BURT COMPANY 


— 

v 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


Made in "U. S. A” 


AUG 14 74 * !l~ 

©C1AS00475 ^ 

'V.v V 














VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


CHAPTER I. 

A HAPPY HOUR. 

Margaret, with a happy little song singing 
in her heart, went quickly about the old ranch 
house putting it in order. She had cautioned 
Sing Long to be very, very still in the kitchen as 
Virginia had said that Malcolm was to sleep until 
ten, and even the proverbial mouse could not have 
stolen about more softly than did the Chinaman 
whose loyal heart held few dearer than the young 
master whom he had known when he was a helpless 
wee pink thing in a crib. Nowhere can there be 
found greater devotion to the family than in the 
heart of a Chinese cook. 

“Me makee Malcolm extra eatees,” he had 
whispered to the girl, when he heard about the ten 
o’clock broth. 


3 



4 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


‘‘Don’t make it out of white mice,” she teased, and 
the round face of the Chinaman shone with mirth. 
They were always pretending to be afraid that some 
day he would serve them with birds’ nests fried or 
with stuffed white mice. 

Then, when the long living room was as speck¬ 
less as a feather-duster and cheese cloth could make 
it, Margaret sat down on the window-seat, curled 
one foot under her and opened the mending basket. 
She was glad that Virg didn’t like to darn stockings, 
as that was something really helpful that Megsy 
could do for her dearly loved sister-friend. If there 
were thoughts in the head of the girl, as she bent 
over her work, they were not clearly defined. Now 
and then she paused to glance toward the closed door 
and the farther end of the long room. She thought 
once she heard a stir within. Perhaps she ought to 
send Sing Long to see if Malcolm wished a drink of 
water from the olla. But that would awaken him if 
he were asleep. A neat pile of rolled stockings lay 
on the window-seat beside the girl when the chiming 
of the old grandfather clock announced that the hour 
was only eight. “How much one can do when one 
arises before five,” she was confiding to a short 
brown sock, when again her attention was attracted 
to the closed door, but, to her amazement, it was not 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


5 


remaining closed. It was slowly opening and into 
the room walked no less a person than the lad who 
had been told that he must remain in bed all of the 
morning. What would Virg say, and what could 
Margaret do? 

Springing up, she advanced toward him, her voice 
expressing her anxiety. “Oh, Malcolm," she said, 
“oughtn't you to stay in bed longer? Is there any¬ 
thing you want that Sing Long could get for you? 5 ' 

“Nary a thing," the lad replied. “I just want to 
get up. I've been in bed ages longer than usual. I'm 
going to sit here in this comfortable old chair and 
just watch you work. That surely ought to be in¬ 
dolence enough to satisfy the most exacting nurse.” 

The girl returned to the window and to her self- 
appointed task. The lad sank down in the big easy 
chair and seemed quite content to remain there. “I'm 
glad you have on your bathrobe," Margaret said, 
“because then at least you don't intend to disobey one 
of Virginia's last orders." 

“What was it ?" the boy seemed amused that his 
golden-haired sister should be laying down the law, 
and that this equally fair young maid should have 
been left, evidently, to enforce them. Malcolm having 
assumed the government of men much older than 
himself, at the age of sixteen, was indeed unused, 


6 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


now that he was nineteen, to be told what he should 
do. However it seemed rather pleasant, and, settling 
back into still greater comfort, he inquired, “I haven’t 
heard yet what you are not to permit me to do.” 

Margaret smiled at him. “You’re laughing at us. 
I know you are, for there are twinkles in those grey 
eyes of yours. Nevertheless, this is what Virg said 
to me, ‘If brother awakens before I come back, which 
I don’t expect, for I told him to sleep until ten, don’t 
let him go down to the corral. He is to rest the en¬ 
tire month of August and he isn’t to even think of a 
calf or a cow or—’ ” 

Malcolm threw back his head and laughed heartily. 
“That dear sister of mine left you rather a large 
order to enforce.” Then, after a silent moment, he 
added, “The truth is, just now I don’t feel the 
slightest desire to go down to the corral, knowing 
that Uncle Tex is there vested with the full authority 
to do whatever he thinks best, and neither do I want 
to think of a calf or a cow.” 

Then he was quiet, gazing at the bent brown head 
and watching the fingers fly. “Little ward-of-mine,” 
he said at last, “I am envying that needle. It has 
your entire attention while I, who am supposed to be 
more interesting, am left to my own devices. How 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


7 


do you know. Nurse Margaret, but that I may be 
thinking of cows and calves and—” 

Megsy laughed, folded the pair of stockings upon 
which she was working, placed them all in the big 
Indian woven basket and closed down the lid. Then 
seating herself in a chair that was more comfortable 
than the window-seat, she folded her hands in the 
quiet restful way that was so natural to her. Malcolm 
smiled as he wondered what she would say. He sud¬ 
denly realized that he would far rather speculate 
about his ward than about the dwellers in the corral. 
For a few moments Margaret said nothing but sat 
watching the burning root. 

Suddenly she looked up, her expression brighten¬ 
ing. “Malcolm,” she asked, “what do you think 
about the mystery?” 

The lad could not imagine about what Margaret 
was speaking. 

“Mystery?” he repeated blankly. 

Megsy continued as though she had not heard. 
“I don’t believe there ever was a queerer will out¬ 
side of a story book than that one of Eleanor 
Pettes’ great-great aunt, Myra. Imagine leaving 
half of a vast estate to a girl you have never seen 
and the other half to some man, Hugh Ward, about 
whom no one living seems to have any knowledge 


8 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


whatsoever, not even her own attorney. The will 
states that there is a certain room in the house which 
is never to be opened until these two have met and 
enter it together.” 

Malcolm leaned forward eagerly. “That sounds 
interesting,” he said as though he were hearing it 
for the first time. “When Virg read the letter she 
was so determined to induce me to accept the in¬ 
vitation that she forgot to tell me about the mystery. 
We ought to have kept Betsy a while longer, but, 
if we all try, we may be able to unearth this said 
Hugh Ward without the aid of a detective.” Then 
he added with a boyish laugh which delighted the 
heart of the listener, “Maybe you wouldn’t think it 
now, but between the ages of ten and twelve I read 
every detective story that found its way to Douglas. 
It was my dearest desire to be either a sleuth or a 
pirate, but alas for our dreams, I just settled down 
and became a prosaic, humdrum, uninteresting—” 

“What is humdrum and uninteresting?” Virginia 
called from the doorway. The two whirled and, 
for some unaccountable reason, Malcolm, for the 
first time in his life, wished his sister’s errand had 
delayed her for a half hour longer. Perhaps it was 
because his heart rebuked him for this seeming dis¬ 
loyalty that he was unusually meek and was about 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


9 


to comply when Virginia told him that he must go 
and lie down if he had been sitting up ever since 
eight, (it being nearly nine). He had started 
reluctantly toward his room, but he turned back to 
inquire what had happened, for there had been a 
little cry of excitement from Megsy who had re¬ 
turned to the window-seat. “Someone is coming 
over the mesa, ,, she said. “Both the horse and rider 
are so small, I do believe they are Davie Wells and 
his burro.” 

“Then he is bringing a telegram from Eleanor.” 
Virg skipped to the door calling over her shoulder, 
“Brother, wait and hear the news.” Davie did in¬ 
deed produce a yellow envelope from the crown of 
his torn straw hat, then grinned delightedly at the 
shiny silver piece with which he was rewarded. 
Tearing open the envelope, Virg read the few 
words, “Everything all right. Will side-track in 
Douglas Friday the thirteenth. My lucky day. 
Will wait till you all come.” 

“And this is Tuesday.” Virg looked up. “Now 
how are we to get word to Babs and Peyton?” 

“Slim is going to ride to the North toward eve¬ 
ning. Write a note, Sis, and let him take it,” Mal¬ 
colm advised. 


10 


VIRGINIA'S ROMANCE 


CHAPTER II. 

CELEBRATING. 

The suggested note was written, Babs and Pey¬ 
ton were told to be at V. M. not later than Thurs¬ 
day afternoon, and, as Malcolm had said, Slim re¬ 
ported directly after lunch that he was riding to the 
North, and so the note was started on its way. 

The day was hot, and Malcolm, finding that he 
was far more weary than he had believed possible, 
was content to lie quietly in the hammock-swing 
which Virg and Megsy had hung on the cool, 
North veranda. The girls, having been up before 
daylight, took their usual siesta, and, when they 
had awakened refreshed, they at once began to take 
dresses from the closets and look them over, pre¬ 
paring to pack. 

“What do you suppose one wears in California ?” 
Virginia wondered. 

Margaret knew, for had she not been there? 
“The climate is much like yours,” she informed her 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


11 


friend. “It is likely to be very cool in the evening 
though it may be intensely hot at noon.” 

“Then we will need cloaks and—” 

“Yes,” Megsy interrupted to say, “even your 
adorable fur boa, for since San Ceritos is close to 
the sea, it may be ever so cold nights.” Then 
laughingly she added, “My real reason is that it is 
so becoming to you, Virg, and you don't have an 
opportunity to wear it here.” 

And so they planned until suddenly Virg, upon 
hearing the grandfather clock in the living room 
chiming the hour of five, sprang up. “I .had com¬ 
pletely forgotten that Sing Long asked to go to 
Douglas for two days and a night. He left, I sup¬ 
pose, right after lunch. It’s some sort of a Chinese 
holiday and he has a number of good friends in the 
little Chinatown over there.” 

Virginia was replacing the dresses in the closet 
as she did not intend to pack them until Thursday. 
“I meant to make a cake. You know I spoke of it 
at lunch. I hardly know what we will have for 
supper. I wanted it to be something extra nice, 
because we are sort of celebrating. Oh good, there 
goes Uncle Tex kitchenward. Megsy, will you read 
to Malcolm or do something that will keep him 


12 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


quiet a while longer, and when supper is ready, I’ll 
call you.” 

Gladly did the little maid comply, and it was well 
that she did go out on the porch, for Malcolm was 
becoming restless, and was just deciding that he 
would better go down and take a look at the corral 
when Megsy appeared, magazine in hand. “More 
orders,” she smiled her brightest at him. “I have 
been told by the head nurse that I am to read to 
you until supper is ready, and, as this is the mag¬ 
azine you received only yesterday, I thought per¬ 
haps you would like me to read one of the articles. 
Shall I?” 

“Yes, please do,” the reply was eagerly given. 

The girl seated herself on a bench nearby and 
opened it at random. “Shall I read this one, ‘How 
to make your own irrigation plant ?’ ” 

“No, not that,” the lad reached out his hand, 
“Let me choose.” 

When he handed the magazine back to her, it 
was open at a story entitled “A Summer Idyl.” 

“I thought maybe that would be more restful,” he 
seemed to be apologizing for his choice. 

“I’m afraid it’s a love story,” Margaret hesitated 
as though he might not have realized the nature of 
his selection. She had heard him say, many a time. 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


13 


that he did wish they would leave silly swashy love 
stories out of his technical magazine. What he 
wanted to know was how to build windmills and 
other things that were needed on a cattle ranch. 

There being no response, Margaret read the 
sweet little tale to its end. She was glad that it 
wasn’t silly or swashy, but just the story of a brave 
little woman who had faith. “It reminds me of the 
Wallaces,” she said gently, in concluding. “That 
sort of love is very wonderful.” 

The lad was gazing off across the desert toward 
the distant mountains. “I hope, some day, little 
ward-of-mine, that you will meet a man worthy of 
you who will love you that way.” 

Then Virginia appeared to announce that supper 
was ready. In Margaret’s heart there were con¬ 
flicting emotions. Had she hoped that Malcolm 
could care for her? She would never, never think of 
it again. What he had said assured her that he 
thought only of her as his ward whom he liked but 
did not love. Megsy assumed a merriness that she did 
not feel. Gazing at the long table which stood 
across the end of the kitchen farthest from the big 
range, she exclaimed, “Why, Virginia Davis, if you 
haven’t put on the best cloth and the prettiest dishes. 
Are you expecting company?” 


14 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


“Nary a bit of it,” that maiden replied, with stars 
shining in her eyes. “It's an unusual occasion, Miss 
Selover, I’ll have you know. The beginning of a 
month’s holiday for his Highness, the Cattle King 
of—” Virginia quickly paused and put her finger 
on her lips. “Oh,” she said, “that is the forbidden 
word. I did the forbidding and then I am the first 
to use it, but I won’t forget again and woe unto 
you, Sir Malcolm, if you even think of business.” 

“I’m not going to,” the tall lad replied. He was 
still pale and weak from his recent experience and 
he permitted the girls to wait upon him to their 
heart’s content. 

“Virginia, you say that you aren’t expecting 
company,” Megsy remarked, “and yet you have set 
two extra places at the table. How did it happen?” 

Virginia laughed. “Well, it’s the custom of the 
desert, as you well know, to have one extra place 
always ready for the possible passer-by who might 
stop at meal time and if one, why not two, said I 
to myself, because it balanced the table better.” 

The three young people were soon seated and 
Uncle Tex, who had been busily frying com 
fritters, appeared with a platter heaped high. 

The lad smiled at him. “Am I supposed to eat 
them all?” he inquired, mischievously. Then he 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


15 


added, ‘‘I do believe that you have cooked enough 
to satisfy the hunger of an almost starved range 
rider, if one should appear.” 

Margaret and Virginia pounced at the lad, each 
shaking a finger at him. “You said that forbidden 
word,” Megsy told him. 

“I won’t again,” Malcolm promised; “not if you 
will pass me the maple syrup.” 

A few moments later Margaret lifted her head 
and listened. “Hark!” she said. “Do I hear the 
galloping of horses’ feet?” 

“Yo* sure do. Miss Margaret,” Uncle Tex ex¬ 
claimed from the porch doorway. “It’s getting so 
dark now I can’t be certain who ’tis or what, but 
thar’s horses a cornin’ down the trail. Like be they 
are wild burros. They most always nm about in 
the evening.” 

“Probably that’s it,” Virginia had just said, when 
there came a rap-rapping at the front door. 

Malcolm shook his head and looked at # the de¬ 
pleted platter of com fritters. “Two hungry range 
riders are about to descend upon us,” he began in 
a dismal tone as Uncle Tex shuffled away to admit 
the ijewcomers, but, when the front door opened, 
it was not the voice of a range rider that they 
heard. 


16 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


“Well, if this isn’t the most delightful and sur¬ 
prising thing that ever could have happened! ’ Vir¬ 
ginia declared. 

“It’s Babs and Peyton! I really believe that we 
are living in a world of magic after all,” she de¬ 
clared a moment later when Uncle Tex had led 
the newcomers out to the brightly lighted kitchen. 
“Did Slim give you the note we sent and have you 
come to stay a month ?” 

Peyton shook his head. “We’ve been over to 
Douglas to order the furniture that sister of mine 
wanted. Trujillo sent for his heirlooms, and the 
big front room at Three Cross is now quite empty.” 

Babs looked at* the shining-eyed Virginia almost 
in surprise. 

“Virg, dear,” she said, “what has happened? 
There’s something festive-like in the air as though 

_ fi 

“Right you are!” Virg interrupted. “This is a 
very festive occasion. The King of—or, that is, 
my brother Malcolm is taking a month’s holiday. 
Think of that, Peyton, and any reference to busi¬ 
ness or ranching is forbidden. Whoever breaks 
the rule will have to pay a fine. But come, I know 
you are starved! Peyton, you may wash at the 
porch pump while I take Babs to my room.” 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


17 


Ten minutes later the young- people were seated, 
and Babs declared that the table looked just like a 
party. Virg gaily replied: “Whenever you see a 
glass dish on our table containing strawberry pre¬ 
serves you may be sure that we are at least trying 
to have a party. The sad part of it is that there 
isn’t one crumb of cake.” 

“Who-all said as there wasn’t?” Uncle Tex in¬ 
quired .as he came to replenish the platter with 
steaming corn fritters. 

Virginia looked up in surprise. “Why, Uncle 
Tex, you know there isn’t a cake in this house. 
Didn’t Margaret scald out the cakebox this morn¬ 
ing and put it in the sun to sweeten, and haven’t we 
been out of the kitchen all the afternoon? Since 
you do not bake, how can there be a cake?” 

Uncle Tex chuckled. “Leastwise if I war you 
I’d take a peek in the cakebox before I gave up en¬ 
tirely,” he told her. 

Margaret sprang up. “That reminds me,” she 
said. “I forgot to bring the box in and it’s dark 
now.” 

“The cakebox came in all right,” Uncle Tex 
assured them. “Mrs. Mahoy came over this after¬ 
noon and she fetched it in for you.” 

A cry of delight greeted this information. “Oho! 


18 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


I know now,” Virginia exclaimed as she arose and 
skipped to the pantry, from whence she soon re¬ 
turned bearing a huge mountain of cake. 

‘Three layers, no less,” she told them, “and a 
different kind of filling between each, with choco¬ 
late all over.” 

“Three cheers for Mrs. Mahoy!” Malcolm sang 
out as he waved his napkin. Peyton turned toward 
his friend in surprise, for he had never before seen 
other than the serious side of Malcolm’s nature. 

The cake proved to be as good as it looked, and, 
while they were eating it, Uncle Tex slipped to 
the front room and put a jolly record cn the Vic- 
trola. How they all laughed when they heard a 
gay chorus singing the old cattleman’s favorite 
selection. 

“Malcolm,” Peyton confided, “I’m up against it. 
I came over here to ask your advice about buying 
some cat—” 

“Sh-h-h!” Virg and Margaret interrupted. “It’s 
lucky for you that you didn’t say that forbidden 
word, for the fine is to be heavy.” 

Peyton laughed, but looked rather helplessly over 
at Malcolm, who nodded as much as to say, “Wait 
until we are alone.” But the girls, suspecting this, 
stayed with them all of the evening. Babs was 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


19 


elated when she heard about Eleanor’s invitation, 
but Peyton declared that, although he was glad to 
have his sister accept, he could not, because he was 
without an overseer. His heart gave a leap of joy 
when he noticed that for a brief moment Virginia 
seemed disappointed. Did she really care for him? 


20 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


CHAPTER III. 

THE HEART OF MARGARET. 

The next day dawned gloriously bright and the 
young people were up soon after the sun had risen. 

“It’s such a beautiful sparkling morning/’ Mar¬ 
garet said, as she threw wide the double doors that 
led upon the wide veranda. “I do wish we could 
have our breakfast out here.” 

“There is nothing to prevent,” Virg told her. 
“Babs, you’ll find the porch brush in the box-seat 
yonder, and, if you will dust away the sand, Megsy 
and I will spread the table.” 

A few moments later Margaret, emerging from 
the house with a tray laden with plates and cups 
and saucers, placed them on the table and uttered 
an exclamation of dismay. 

“Virg,” she said to the girl who had followed 
her closely, “where is Malcolm?” 

“In bed,” that lad’s sister confidently replied. “I 
told him that he must remain there at least till 9 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


21 


o’clock every day until he is thoroughly rested. 
But, why did you ask ?” 

For reply, Margaret, pointed down toward the 
corral. Virg looked and was surprised to see her 
brother and Peyton examining the yearlings that 
had been driven in the day before by Slim. 

“That settles it!” Virg said grimly. “We simply 
can’t keep Malcolm from thinking and talking about 
cattle unless we take him away from here. Help¬ 
ing to solve the mystery ought to interest brother 
to the exclusion of cattle and all else.” 

“What if Malcolm should fall in love with 
Eleanor?” Babs suggested. “Honestly, Virg, I im¬ 
agine she is just the kind of a girl your brother 
would like.” 

“Perhaps,” Virginia replied, “but I really doubt 
his falling in love with anyone.” 

Margaret had looked up quickly but neither of 
the girls was thinking of her, and so she hurried 
into the house to get the dinner bell which she rang 
to call the boys to breakfast. 

They came, laughing, but knowing they were 
guilty. “Babs,” Virginia began severely, “how 
shall we punish these brothers of ours. Shall we 
give them griddle cakes without maple syrup?” 

“You wouldn’t do such a thing, Sis! Why that 


22 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


would be cruelty worthy of a Robespierre. I’ll 
promise not to talk business when we leave V. M.. 
but, while we remain, I simply have to take an in¬ 
terest in our stock.” 

“.We’ll soon be away,” Virginia told him, then, 
turning to Peyton, she added, “I do wish that you 
could go with us. Isn’t there someone who could 
take charge of Three Cross’ for awhile?” 

Before Peyton could reply, Malcolm exclaimed, 
“I have a splendid suggestion to offer. Slim tells 
me his brother has arrived from Texas and is look¬ 
ing for work. I’ll take him on for a month and 
loan you my Lucky. He is absolutely trustworthy 
and he’d like the change.” 

“But who would look out for V. M. ?” Peyton in¬ 
quired. 

“Uncle Tex. He was overseer for my Dad for 
many years, and would be for me, if it were not that 
I wish him to have greater freedom, now that he 
is—well—not as young as he once was.” 

“Then it’s settled, that is if Lucky agrees. 
Where can we find him?” Peyton inquired with 
boyish eagerness. While the lads were gone in 
search of the middle-aged cowboy, the girls started 
to clear the table, Babs and Virginia did not notice 
how quiet Margaret was. “And so Eleanor was the 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


23 


type of girl whom Malcolm would admire!” That 
is what Babs had said and Virginia had replied that 
she did not think that her brother would care for 
anyone or at least not soon. 

Margaret sighed, and, leaving the others chatting 
gaily in the kitchen as they assisted Uncle Tex, she 
went to the bedrooms to do her morning task. 

For a while, however, she did not turn toward 
the beds, but stood gazing out of the open window 
at Inspiration Peak, deep in thought. 

Of course Malcolm could not care for her. Had 
she ever supposed that he would? Never before 
had she really asked this question of her heart. 

Eleanor was indeed the type that any lad would 
like, for was she not talented, and beautiful? “I’m 
just a little brown wren beside Eleanor/* Megsy 
thought, “but she is like a brilliant bird of paradise. 
Of course Malcolm will like her better.” 

Then Margaret turned, and, chancing to see her 
doleful reflection in the mirror, she smiled, al¬ 
though her lips trembled. “Even if love is not for 
me,” she thought bravely, “I can love, and that is 
the better part.” 

She began to sing as she spread the blankets, 
quiveringly at first, and then more happily, 
for Margaret was counting her blessings. 


24 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


Half an hour later, the beds having been made, 
Megsy was arranging fresh scarlet flowers in a 
bowl on the living room table when she heard a 
step back of her. Turning she saw Malcolm, and 
her cheeks were the color of the blossoms she held. 

“Well, little ward-of-mine,” the lad said, as he 
sat on one corner of the table watching her, “are 
you as eager as the others for this journey upon 
which we are about to embark?” 

Something choked in the girl’s throat, and she 
did not reply. A tempting thought whispered to 
her. “If we don’t go, Malcolm might never even 
meet Eleanor.” 

“But I want him to meet her,” the true unselfish 
part of her nature declared, “if it would bring 
greater happiness to him.” 

Malcolm leaned over and caught the hand that 
was resting among the flowers and turned Mar¬ 
garet so that she had to face him. 

“Young lady,” he said with mock severity, “do 
you realize that you are my ward and that you are 
in duty bound to reveal your thoughts to me. I 
know that your brain is busily thinking of some¬ 
thing that you are not telling me. Now Tess up! 
Am I not right?” 

Margaret smiled at him and the lad thought that 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


26 


he had never seen a sweeter expression on the face 
of any mortal. 

“I was thinking of my friend, Eleanor/’ was her 
reply. “She is so beautiful and talented that I am 
sure you will admire her. Too, she is a wonderful 
horsewoman. She plays polo with her pony, and— 
and things like that.” 

The lad, looking intently at the pretty, flushed 
face of the girl before him was truly mystified. It 
was very evident that Margaret was feeling in¬ 
tensely about something. He still held her hand 
and gazed at her earnestly. “Little ward-of-mine,” 
he asked very tenderly, “are you unhappy here with 
us?” 

He had noted sudden tears on the drooping eye¬ 
lashes. Margaret looked up and smiled through the 
tears that would come. “I never was so happy be¬ 
fore in all my life. Honestly, Malcolm.” 

“I am glad, dear. I want you to be happy.” 

Then Peyton had called and Margaret was left 
alone. She stood as though she were in a trance. 
Malcolm had called her “dear.” Was she really dear 
to him? Then she heard a commotion in the 
kitchen. Virg and Babs were calling to her. 
“Margaret where are you?” Megsy turned and 
walked slowly to join her friends. Over and over 


26 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


again her thought repeated: “Malcolm will soon 
meet Eleanor, and then—” Babs looked up 
brightly to greet her as she entered the kitchen. 
Little did she dream that her idle remark had caused 
such an upheaval in the heart of Margaret. 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


27 


CHAPTER IV. 

A JOURNEY STARTED. 

Babs and Peyton left for Three Cross soon after 
breakfast accompanied by Lucky, who was both 
proud and pleased to have been chosen for a position 
so responsible. Babs hurriedly packed the things 
of which she and her brother would have need and 
they were back at V. M. late Thursday evening. 

Never was there a more excited group of young 
people than that which was being driven by Slim 
in the big touring car on the morning of the day 
following. Bags and suitcases were strapped on 
everywhere. 

“Woe to us,” Babs called, “if we should be 
stalled. We never could be dug out.” But luckily 
the sand in the desert road was hard and they 
reached their destination without mishap. 

They soon saw where the private car was side¬ 
tracked, and the girls hurried toward it, the boys 
remaining behind to disentangle the baggage from 
the many ropes that bound it. 


28 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


Eleanor, who had been reading an interesting 
book to while away the time until the arrival of her 
friends, leaped up when she heard their merry 
shouting and hurried out to greet them, open book 
in hand. 

“Oh, you dear, girls!” she exclaimed as she ran 
first of all toward the friend whom she had named 
her “Kindred Spirit/’ Then she held out both hands 
to Margaret. 

When Megsy saw the expression of friendship 
that was lighting the eyes of the other girl, she felt 
as though she wanted to throw her arms about her 
neck and beg to be forgiven for the thoughts that 
had haunted her for the last two days. She too 
loved Eleanor and there was only one way to prove 
love, and that was by service and sacrifice. In¬ 
stantly she resolved to do all that she could to make 
Eleanor happy, even Uiough it meant giving up the 
comradeship that had become so dear to her. 

After the greeting was over, she turned at once, 
and seeing Malcolm approaching laden with bags 
and suitcases, she beckoned to him. Then to 
Eleanor she said simply, “I want you to meet my 
guardian. I am sure that you will like each other.” 

Their hostess extended her hand and said in her 


VIRGINIA'S ROMANCE 


29 


frank pleasant way, “I am indeed glad to meet the 
brother of my Kindred Spirit.” 

Later she added to Megsy as she gazed admir¬ 
ingly at the good-looking young giant who had 
continued with his load, “No wonder, dear, that you 
were willing to be adopted when you were to live 
with such wonderful people as Virginia and her 
brother.” 

The baggage having been stowed away, the 
young people were wondering what they should do 
about a noon meal when Mrs. Wells, the station- 
master's wife, bustled out and said, “Miss Virginia 
dear, the train isn’t due this two hours yet. 
Wouldn’t you like me to get you a bite o’ some kind 
to eat?” 

“Oh, Mrs. Wells,” Malcolm exclaimed, “you 
don’t happen to have any of that famous chowder 
of yours on tap, so to speak, do you?” 

The stout matron beamed on the lad whom she 
had known for nineteen years, indeed, ever since 
he had made his first appearance on the desert. 

“I do that,” she replied, “and \ T ’ll make it hot for 
you in short order.” 

And that is what happened. Half an hour later 
the young people were summoned to the big, sunny 
kitchen of the station house and Mrs. Wells placed 


30 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


them around the long board table and served them 
with bowls of chowder and thick slices of molasses 
brown bread for which she was also famous. 

Some of the local trains stopped at the Junction 
for lunch, and so there were always pies and cake 
ready to be served. 

When the repast was finished, Malcolm drew the 
good woman aside and offered to pay for the re¬ 
freshment, but she put her hands behind her saying: 

“No, indeed, laddie. Who was it sent us a 
quarter of beef every now and then last winter when 
times was hard ? Maybe you thought I didn’t know 
’twas you, but I did. Uncle Tex confessed when 
he was pinned down to it. I’ve been wantin’ to 
thank you ever since, and this lunch doesn’t do it 
all. There’s many another cornin’ for you, laddie.” 

Malcolm thanked the kind woman as did also the 
others and then they returned to the private car. 
Soon thereafter Danny Wells raced out with the 
exciting news that the “Limited” was coming. 
“You’d better all hold tight or you’ll get bumped 
awful,” he told them with an appreciative grin, 
which showed a toothless space. The boys leaped 
off to watch the operation and the girls decided to 
do likewise. 

By the merest chance Eleanor and Malcolm hap- 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


31 


pened to be standing together. Megsy, a little way 
beyond, looked at them intently. She was startled 
from her reverie by hearing Babs say, “They make 
a nice-looking couple, don't they?" Before Mar¬ 
garet could reply, Peyton shouted through his 
hands, held megaphone-fashion, “All aboard for 
the Land of Mystery." 


32 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


CHAPTER V. 

AN UNEXPECTED ARRIVAL. 

“I am sorry we are to travel at night,” said 
Eleanor, “since this is my first visit to the desert/’ 

She sank down in one of the seats and smiled up 
at the lad who was stacking her bags in the rack 
over head. 

“Malcolm, you sit with Eleanor/’ Virginia sug¬ 
gested. “There are yet a few hours remaining of 
daylight and you can tell her all about the land¬ 
scape.” The lad did as he was bidden, for indeed, 
what else could he do? 

Margaret and Babs were left together, for of 
course Peyton at once took possession of his be¬ 
loved Virginia. 

Megsy leaned her head against the window 
watching the flying landscape, and, if Babs spoke 
to her, she did not hear nor heed. At last Barbara 
glanced at her friend curiously and decided that she 
was not feeling well. Never before had she known 
Megsy to be so engrossed in her own thoughts that 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


33 


she could not listen with appreciative enjoyment to 
the chatter of her friends, encouraging them with 
her sweet smiles and quaint remarks. Barbara 
wondered what the cause of Margaret’s recent 
thoughtfulness might be, and, though she thought 
of this and that, she did not even suspect the real 
subject of her friend’s meditations. 

Soon, however, even Margaret became conscious 
that there was some excitement going on about her. 
She looked up and found that Babs had left her. 
Then she turned and saw all of the young people 
crowding to the rear door of their private car. It 
was the last on the train. They seemed to be watch¬ 
ing a mounted cowboy who was apparently en¬ 
deavoring to overtake them. 

“He probably knows that we are to stop very 
soon now,” Peyton remarked. “Perhaps he has 
a telegram for one of the passengers.” 

Even as he spoke the train had slowed perceptibly 
and the horse and rider drew nearer. 

“Why, it’s Benjy Wilson, I do believe,” Malcolm 
exclaimed in surprise. “Where do you suppose he 
came from? Of all the queer happenings!” Babs 
and Virginia remarked in chorus. 

The boys were at the open front door of their car 


34 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


as soon as the train came to a standstill, and the 
girls leaned out of the open windows. 

It was indeed Benjy and he rode up all out of 
breath. 

“Well,” he shouted, as soon as he could speak, 
“this is a nice way to treat your friends. Going 
off and not giving a fellow a chance to say goodbye. 
I rode over to V. M. to see you all, and was in¬ 
formed by Uncle Tex that you had hit the trail for 
California. He didn’t know what hour you would 
be leaving, and so I raced down to the Junction and 
reached there just to see your train disappearing in 
the tunnel. Mr. Wells told me that there was always 
a stop made here to take on another engine before be¬ 
ginning the upgrade, and so I tried to catch you. 
Where is Babs?” he added eagerly. 

“Here I am!” that maiden replied. “Oh, Benjy, 
how I do wish you were going with us.” 

“Well, I wish so too, but I haven’t had an in¬ 
vitation. Don’t even know who is giving the 
party.” 

“I am,” Eleanor replied. “Hop on and come 
along. We’d love to have you,” Eleanor had often 
seen Benjy at the school parties and so she was ac¬ 
quainted with him. “I suppose, of course, that the 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


35 


girls would bring you, but the whole plan was made 
so hurriedly that—” 

“All aboard/’ sang out the trainman. 

To the surprise and delight of the young people, 
Benjy leaped from his horse to the platform of the 
car. “Go home, Gipper,” he called to the probably 
astonished horse. Then smiling at Babs, he said, 
“I’ll ride with you as far as Canon Junction, where 
I can get a train back to Red Riverton.” 

“Oh, Benjy, why not come all the way with us?” 
Babs begged. “You can send a wire to your mother, 
can’t you? She is all right now, isn’t she?” 

“Yes indeed,” the boy replied, with a brighten¬ 
ing expression. “Thank Heaven, my little mother 
is well once more. Her sister has come to live with 
us and keep house, and so I could go for a week or 
two, but I haven’t anything with me but this khaki 
outfit.” 

“Oh, we can rig you up with what you need,” 
Malcolm told him. “You’d better come along. 
Half the fun in life is doing something unexpected, 
isn’t it, Eleanor?” 

That maiden nodded brightly. 

Benjy looked at the girl whom Malcolm had ad¬ 
dressed. “What all has happened, Eleanor,” he in- 


36 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


quired. “How chances it that you have an estate 
in California. I never heard of it before ?” 

“Everybody take a seat somewhere,” Peyton 
called, “and we will tell Benjy about the mystery.” 

Babs, of course, was chosen by the newcomer for 
'his seat mate, and Margaret was about to sit alone, 
when Malcolm sang out, “Where is that little ward- 
of-mine ? What are you doing off there, Margaret ? 
Come here and sit with Eleanor and I will take the 
seat opposite so that I may see all that is going on.” 

Benjy was delighted when he heard about the 
will. “What sport it will be to try to unravel the 
mystery,” he declared. 

“That is, if we do unravel it,” Babs replied, 
beaming up at him. 

Benjy was so interested when he heard about the 
mysterious will that he exclaimed with enthusiasm: 
“Eleanor, if you’ll invite me all over again, I 
believe that I may be persuaded to accept.” 

At that moment a stentorian voice at the door 
rang out: “Next station Canon Junction! Change 
trains here for Red Riverton and all points farther 
North.” 

“You’ll have to do some rapid persuading,” Mal¬ 
colm told Eleanor, but Benjy shook his head. 
“After all,” he declared, “I honestly don’t see how 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 37 

I can make it.” He rose as he spoke, the train 
having slowed perceptibly. 

“Goodbye, everybody, and thank you, Eleanor. 
I’d like to accompany you more than you can 
guess.” 

Although he addressed their hostess, he was look¬ 
ing at Babs. 

“Write me as soon as the mystery is solved,” he 
added as he shook hands with them all. 

A moment later the young people saw Benjy dis¬ 
appear around the isolated station house. 

“I don’t see the other train,” Megsy remarked. 

“It’s probably late,” Malcolm informed them. 
“I never knew it to be on time. It’s a short line 
and the train goes and comes to please its own 
sweet will.” 

“I do hope that Benjy understands that we really 
had no way to let him know about our suddenly- 
formed plan to accompany you,” Virginia told Ele¬ 
anor. 

It was Babs who replied. “Benjy isn’t the sort 
of lad to feel offended at his friends,” she cham¬ 
pioned, “but what I can’t understand is when he 
had just said that he might accompany us, that a 
moment later he should depart in such haste.” 

The train was again under way, and, as Babs 


38 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


spoke, she looked back at the rapidly retreating sta¬ 
tion, but not a human being could she see either 
on or about the platform. 

‘The earth seems to have opened and swallowed 
him up,” Malcolm remarked. Then Peyton said: 

“I can’t make out why Benjy rushed away in such 
a mad fashion. He acted as though the other train 
were about to start and that he had to race to get 
it, although he could plainly see that it wasn’t there 
at all.” 

“Benjy never does anything without an excellent 
reason for his action,” Barbara told her brother with 
such a little bristle in her manner that both of the 
boys laughed. 

“Would anyone defend us that way, do you sup¬ 
pose?” Peyton had just inquired when a voice back 
of them calmly asked: 

“Why all this hilarity? Were you so overjoyed 
at my departure?” 

“Benjamin Wilson! Is it you or is it your 
ghost?” 

“It’s me, ail right,” that beaming lad replied as 
he sank back into the seat he had so recently va¬ 
cated. 

“But why did you dart off in that mad fashion? 


VIRGINIA'S ROMANCE 


3d 

Did you just pretend that you weren’t going witH 
us to tease?” Eleanor inquired. 

“Not a bit of it!” Benjy told them. “I had a 
sudden inspiration, I happened to remember that 
my brother and his bride Winona were to be in Red 
Riverton today, as Hal is expecting an important 
letter relating to his work as state geologist, and so 
I telephoned to my good friend, Miss Pinchit, who 
has been postmistress ever since I was born, and in¬ 
quired if she had a letter from Washington for my 
brother. She informed me that she had, and I asked 
her to at once write a message upon it for me stat¬ 
ing that I had gone to California with Malcolm and 
the rest of you, and would be away at least two 
weeks, and that I would send a letter to my mother 
at the next stop.” 

“Hurray for you, old man! We’re bully glad 
you’re going with us.” Then Peyton added mis¬ 
chievously, “Perhaps I would better tell you why 
we were laughing when you entered.” 

“That’s not at all necessary.” Benjy had noted 
the sudden confusion of the girl at his side. “I 
never mind being laughed at or about by chaps who 
have proved the sincerity of their friendship.” 

Then he added, to change the subject, “By the 


40 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


way, I haven’t told you, have I, that I am the one 
who is going to unravel the mystery?” 

“No, sir, the honor is to be mine,” Malcolm de¬ 
clared with boyish eagerness. 

Eleanor laughed. “Poor Hugh Ward. How his 
ears must burn,” she said merrily. 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


41 


CHAPTER VI. 

THE JOURNEY'S END. 

A glorious morning had dawned and the young 
people had been awakened by the porter with the ris¬ 
ing of the sun as Eleanor had requested. 

“Our car is to be switched to another track soon 
and picked up by a train going north on the coast 
line/' she told the others when the berths had been 
made up. “There won't be a diner on that train," 
she continued, “and as we will reach the junction in 
about twenty minutes we must eat our breakfast 
with alacrity." 

“Listen to the linguist, will you?" Benjy sang out 
teasingly. “I never before had anything that 
sounded like that with my breakfast." 

“Maybe it is something that is only served on 
trains," Malcolm suggested as they started Indian 
file to search for the diner which the porter had told 
Peyton was “a few cahs ahead, sah." 

As soon as they were seated (they had the diner 


42 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


quite to themselves at that early hour) Benjy at once 
scanned the menu pretending to hunt for the new 
dish and then he sent the young people into gales of 
laughter when, with a very solemn and almost 
anxious expression, he asked the waiter if he had 
any “fried alacrity ready to serve.” 

The intelligent-looking young colored lad smiled 
his appreciation and then amazed them all by re- 
plying, “What ever you order, sah, I assure you 
will be served with alacrity.” 

“That’s one on you, Ben!” Peyton laughingly 
declared when the waiter had departed to procure 
the viands they had selected. 

“But how does he do it?” the lad looked so truly 
puzzled that the head waiter, who was of the race 
Caucasian, stepped up and inquired, “Is the young 
gentleman in need of something?” 

Benjy smiled up at the solicitious man in his frank 
boyish way as he replied, “I was just wondering 
about the waiter. He spoke as though he were 
educated.” 

“He is! Next year he will enter the Baptist min¬ 
istry, but during his summer vacation, he works for 
me to help pay his way through college.” 

“He who laughs last, laughs best,” Barbara teased 
her brother, but as the colored lad was returning 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


43 


with their order, and as time was flying, the young 
people ate their breakfast without making further 
comment upon the amusing incident. 

Soon thereafter the junction was reached, and 
they had to fly back to their private car. Indeed 
they had just closed the door and resumed their seats 
when the car was switched to a side track and left 
there while the train proceeded on its way. 

“Where’s Malcolm?” Margaret inquired. 

“Perhaps he remained behind to pay for the fried 
alacrity,” Benjy said, laughing at the joke which 
surely had been on himself. But almost as he spoke 
Malcolm appeared, having stepped outside to view 
the scene, for although that young cattleman had 
been East, he had never before been in California. 

“You should always make a wish when you do 
something for the first time,” Eleanor told him 
smiling up in her truly bewitching manner. 

“I did,” Malcolm replied. 

“Tell us, what did you wish?” Virginia asked as 
she glanced with pride at the good-looking giant 
whom she called brother. 

“You never could guess,” was the reply she re¬ 
ceived. 

“You wished for a herd of choice cattle,” Peyton 
suggested. 


44 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


“Wrong!” was the reply. 

“You wished that you might be the one to solve 
the mystery,” Benjy put in. 

“I know that I am to do that without wishing,” 
the older boy replied as he sank down beside Mar¬ 
garet. That maiden, glancing across the aisle saw 
that the seat beside Eleanor was vacant. Malcolm 
could have chosen it had he preferred. 

“Little ward-of-mine,” he was asking softly, “do 
you know what I wished?” 

With cheeks like roses, Megsy shook her head. 
“Then some day I will tell you,” was all that Mal¬ 
colm said. 

It was mid-morning before a train bound for the 
coast picked them up. 

“Who’ll be the first to see the sea?” Benjy asked 
as he hung out of the open window as far as he 
dared. 

“Catch hold of his coat-tails, Peyton,” Babs 
pleaded, “we’re coming to a curve.” 

The train swung so suddenly that the laughing boy 
was hurled into the car and down on the seat with 
a thud, which, however, in no way diminished his 
good spirits. 

“I do believe that I smell a salty tang in the air,” 
Eleanor remarked as she sniffed at her open window. 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


45 


Margaret said nothing, but she was intently watch¬ 
ing the horizon, for she believed that a certain shiny 
blue that she saw was water and not sky. 

Then suddenly she leaped to her feet and uttered a 
cry of joy so unexpectedly that the others turned 
toward her in wondering surprise. It was unlike 
their quiet Margaret to be demonstrative. 

“I saw it first,” she exclaimed, her cheeks pink 
with excitement. “I discovered the Pacific,” she 
added with a little laugh as she sank back beside 
Malcolm. “I know now how Balboa must have felt 
on that long ago day.” Then, questioningly, “It was 
Balboa, wasn’t it?” 

“Vasco Nunez de Balboa, to be exact, discovered 
the Pacific on September 2, in the year 1513,” Benjy 
recited. “Having dissipated his wealth in Spain, he 
came to America, to recuperate his fallen fortunes, 
so to speak, and having been told by the Indians that 
nuggets of gold lay on the Western slopes of the 
mountains waiting to be gathered up, he eagerly set 
forth, but all the gold he found was—” 

“The gold of the sunset gleaming in the peaceful 
waters of the Pacific,” Virginia put in. 

“Soon thereafter this great discoverer lost some¬ 
thing without which he could not live,” Benjy con- 


46 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


tinued, “for he was beheaded by a jealous governor, 
and—” 

The lad’s speech was laughingly interrupted. 
“Professor Benjamin, we will have to hear the rest 
of your most entertaining and instructive lecture at 
some other time, for, if I am not mistaken we are 
now approaching our destination.” 

Nor was Eleanor wrong, for at that moment the 
front door of the car swung open and the stentorian 
voice called, “Next stop is San Ceritos, famous for 
its vast estates and orange groves, its mountain trails 
and bathing beach.” 

“And you got all that from your Great Aunt Myra 
just because you sent her a picture of yourself dolled 
up as May Queen,” Benjy exclaimed as though it 
were hard to believe. “What if you hadn’t sent it, 
Eleanor?” Margaret remarked in such a tragic voice 
that they all laughed. 

“What if, after all, the estate is merely fiction, the 
creation of a disordered and elderly brain. What 
if—” 

“Benjy! Benjy! Your imagination is running 
away with you today.” 

“It won’t let me run away from you,” the lad said 
quietly to the protesting maiden at his side. 

“We won’t have to hurry,” Eleanor informed her 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


47 


guests. “Our car is to be side-tracked here until I 
take you back to Arizona/' Then she added. “When 
Dad has completed his business abroad he is coming 
here and together we will decide what I would better 
do with my half of the estate. I do wish I knew 
that old man—I beg his pardon—I mean the Honor¬ 
able Hugh Ward—for then I might be able to 
persuade him to sell out to me, as I much prefer 
owning the whole place quite by myself." Then she 
smiled in her bright, optimistic way as she said, 
“Well, as is—is—and life has taught me that, 
somehow, whatever is—is best." 

“Hear! Hear! How many years has our elderly 
friend lived that she has learned so much from ex¬ 
perience?" Benjy teased, but Margaret remarked, 
“Mr. Ward may be a nice, grandfatherly old gentle¬ 
man, whom you will be glad to have sitting in a 
sunny corner of the garden." 

“Hold fast, everybody!" Malcolm called, “We're 
going to be switched." Then he added, “Eleanor, 
your town seems to be conspicuous by its absence." 

Eleanor peered out at the park-like circle surround¬ 
ing the picturesque little depot. 

“I wired for someone to meet us," she said 
anxiously. “I don't see an automobile anywhere.” 


48 


VIRGINIA'S ROMANCE 


CHAPTER VII. 

OUT OF THE LONG AGO. 

The young people left the private car and de¬ 
scended to the platform in front of the small vine- 
covered depot over which was a sign bearing the 
name “San Ceritos. ,, 

“It’s the right place, of that we are sure,” 
Eleanor said as she peered rather anxiously out to¬ 
ward the wide highway which looked invitingly 
cool under the long rows of drooping pepper trees, 
the branches intertwined overhead. 

“Eleanor,” Virginia exclaimed enthusiastically. 
“I do believe that you have inherited a corner of 
the original Garden of Eden.” She was looking 
up at the circling misty blue mountains as she 
spoke. 

“With snakes and all?” Babs inquired with a 
shudder. 

“I surely hope not,” their hostess replied, then 
she added, “I wonder where the station-master is. 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


49 


I sent the telegram to him because I wasn’t sure 
that any of Aunt Myra’s servants had remained on 
the place after her death.” 

“We’ll reconnoiter,” Virg remarked as she slipped 
an arm within one of Babs and led her toward the 
small depot. 

‘This must indeed be ‘The Haven of Rest,’ ” she 
called back to the others when she found the door 
of the depot still locked. The truth of the matter 
was that it was not the custom of the morning train 
to stop at San Ceritos. It had merely done so this 
day to deposit the private car on a side track. The 
station-master was not due until noon, when a local 
ambled through, stopping anywhere a passenger 
might wish to alight. 

Margaret smiled. “Well, we ought not to com¬ 
plain, for what we particularly wanted was a place 
where Malcolm could rest, where he would see noth¬ 
ing and hear nothing that could cause him concern, 
and surely we have found it. Hark!” she added 
as she held up one finger. Then with shining eyes 
she looked at the young giant at her side. “Do you 
hear it? The crashing of the surf! The ocean 
must be just beyond the high bluff over there.” 

“I hear another sound as well,” Eleanor said, 


50 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


“and if I am not mistaken, something that travels 
on wheels is approaching.” 

Peyton leaped around the station and gazed up 
the broad, shadowy highway, then he raced back, 
laughing so merrily that at first he could not speak. 

“Shades of George Washington!” he ejaculated 
when his mirth had somewhat subsided. “Girls, 
you ought to be in crinoline, hoop skirts and 
everything.” 

“Brother, what are you talking about?” Babs ex¬ 
claimed as she looked into the twinkling eyes of 
the speaker, but a moment later they all understood, 
for the cause of the lad’s hilarity drew up at the 
platform and stopped. It surely did look like an 
apparition from ye olden days. Two gray horses 
were drawing a coach similar to that which had 
been used by the first President. On the box sat a 
driver so old that Benjy confided to Babs that he 
honestly believed him to have been the pilot in the 
Ark. He wore a faded blue uniform and a high 
hat. With much effort he descended to the platform 
and stood gazing about in a near-sighted manner. 

For a moment the young people had been so 
amazed at the apparition that they had not asso¬ 
ciated it with themselves, but suddenly Eleanor ex- 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 51 

claimed. “Do you suppose that maybe he has come 
for us?” 

“Perhaps so,” Benjy remarked, “queerer things 
than that have happened. I’ll ask the old duck if 
he has come to transport us to our destination.” 

The young people advanced toward the elderly 
servant, and Benjy in the lead inquired in his usual 
tone, “Are you looking for Miss Eleanor Pettes?” 
The old man stepped closer and shouted in a 
cracked, high-pitched voice: “Can’t hear what ye 
sa> and no use yer tryin’ to make me fer I’m deaf 
as a post, but if ye’re the young folks as is cornin’ 
to Miss Myra’s place, just climb in and I’ll take ye 
there.” As he spoke he took the telegram from his 
pocket and Eleanor, being convinced that this was 
her great aunt’s equipage, bade the young people 
enter. 

“I feel exactly as though I were living in a story,” 
Eleanor confided to her “Kindred Spirit” as they 
were being driven along the highway. “Isn’t it in¬ 
teresting not to know where we are going or what 
is going to happen?” 

As the coach rattled along the highway, the 
merry young people laughed happily as they chatted 
together of all the queer happenings. 

Megsy had just declared that she felt as unreal 


52 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


as though she were living in a story-book and Mal¬ 
colm had replied that truth was often stranger than 
fiction. Peyton declared that he believed the mys¬ 
terious Hugh Ward to be about the age of their 
octogenarian driver and Virginia laughingly told 
them that as all roads were supposed to lead to 
Rome, so too did all topics of conversation seem 
to lead to the old gentleman, Hugh Ward. 

Babs had been peering ahead when suddenly she 
uttered an exclamation of delight. “Oh, Eleanor,” 
she cried, “how romantic! I do believe this place 
that we are coming to is yours. See the high iron 
gates and there is a great iron basket on the top of 
each post filled with wonderful drooping tropical 
ferns and, oh, what an adorable little vine-covered 
cottage is just beyond. Of course it is the lodge 
at the gates. Didn’t I tell you we are living in a 
story-book ? Honestly, I don’t believe we are at all 
real!” 

“It is beautiful,” their hostess said, smiling at the 
enthusiastic younger girl. “But how do we know 
that place is Aunt Myra’s ?” 

“It is! It is! See! We’re turning in.” Babs 
clapped her hands in little girl fashion, and as for 
Eleanor, her beautiful face was aglow with pride 
and joy. 



Benjy, leaping to the ground, assisted the girls 
to alight. 

(Page 53) (Virginia’s Romance.) 










































































































































































. 












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VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


53 


Could it be possible that this wonderful estate 
could belong to her? Beyond the neatly trimmed 
hedge they could see wide lawns, beds of glowing 
flowers, high drooping palms, ornamental shrubs, 
some of them in blossom and others with leaves of 
variegated colors. 

The gates were opened by a man, evidently a 
gardener, who removed his broad brimmed hat and 
stood holding it in a deferential manner as the 
coach proceeded up the wide drive, and towards a 
big rambling stone house which was surrounded by 
cooly inviting verandas. 

The coach soon came to a stand-still under a vine- 
covered portico and Benjy, leaping to the ground, 
assisted the girls to alight. 

The front door opened and a pleasant-faced woman 
of about fifty advanced to meet them. She wore 
a neat black dress and a white apron. 

“1 am Mrs. Treadwell,” she told Eleanor, who 
was in the lead. “Are you Miss Myra's great- 
niece ?” 

That maiden replied in the affirmative and the 
older woman continued: “I have been your great- 
aunt's housekeeper for the past five years. Before 
that my mother had held the position since Miss 
Myra was a girl. My father was her coachman and 


54 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


my husband opened the gates for you. He was 
your great-aunt’s gardener. We will remain until 
you have decided who you wish to have take our 
places.” Impulsively Eleanor held out both hands 
to the kindly-faced housekeeper. “I am sure that I 
shall want you all to remain if you wish to do so,” 
she said. Then chancing to glance at Benjy, whom 
she knew was about bursting with eagerness, she 
asked: “Mrs. Treadwell, can you give any informa¬ 
tion concerning an old man named Hugh Ward?” 

The blank expression on the face of the house¬ 
keeper was all the answer the young people needed. 
Evidently she had never even heard the name be¬ 
fore. The truth of the matter was that the pe¬ 
culiarities of the will had never been made known 
to the servants or neighbors. Realizing this, Ele¬ 
anor said no more about the matter. 

“Evidently the old chap hasn’t been around here 
in many years,” Benjy remarked when they were 
eating the early lunch which Mrs. Treadwell had 
prepared for them. 

Malcolm laughed. “Benny boy,” he said, “did you 
expect to solve a mystery that easily? I for one. 
am glad there are a few difficulties in the way.” 

There were more than a few as Malcolm and the 
other young people were to find. 


VIRGINIAN ROMANCE 


55 


CHAPTER VIII. 

A PAINTING OF AUNT MYRA. 

The early lunch over, a long afternoon was be¬ 
fore the young people and, since they had all slept 
well on the train, they did not feel the need of 
further rest. “First of all let us become acquainted 
with our new home,” Eleanor said. This sug¬ 
gestion was hailed as a good one and they entered 
the long room which extended across the front 
of the house. The wide deep fireplace had little 
seats on either side. 

“I feel as though someone named Priscilla ought 
to be sitting here spinning,” Babs remarked. 

The furniture was old-fashioned mahogany which 
had belonged to Miss Myra’s New England an¬ 
cestors. 

Over the mantle hung a life-sized painting of a 
little old lady dressed in silver grey satin, and about 
her shoulders was a white shawl of real lace. 
Eleanor paused a moment to gaze at it. The other 


56 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


young people were at the far side of the room ex¬ 
amining a “what-not” with great interest, for on it 
were curios brought from many lands. 

Mrs. Treadwell, chancing to enter at that mo¬ 
ment, saw Eleanor standing alone beneath the paint¬ 
ing. 

“It is a picture of your great-aunt,” she told her. 
“It was made last year by an artist who spent the 
summer in a cabin up in the mountain.” 

Eleanor gazed at the painting in surprise. “Mrs. 
Treadwell,” ehe said as though hardly able to be¬ 
lieve what she saw, “I had supposed that my Aunt 
Myra was, well, rather prim, and in that painting 
she is almost laughing.” 

“Your aunt often had that expression,” the 
housekeeper replied. “Indeed when Miss Myra 
seemed most serious, her lips would pucker and her 
eyes twinkle as though she were about to laugh even 
when she didn’t.” 

“I wish I had known Aunt Myra,” the girl said 
and there was a note of sadness in her voice. 

Mrs. Treadwell replied with sincere warmth. 
“You have missed knowing one of the bravest, most 
cheerful little women who ever lived, Miss Ele¬ 
anor,” she said. “Many a long year Miss Myra 
was a sufferer, but no one except those nearest her 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


57 


knew it and they knew it only because there were 
times when she could not conceal the pain, but when 
neighbors came to call, bringing their many 
troubles, Miss Myra would listen with real sym¬ 
pathy and often it was the twinkle of humor which 
helped them to see that things weren’t so black after 
all and many a one has risen and held out a hand 
to your aunt (even after she herself couldn’t rise 
and never did again from her chair) and would say, 
‘Miss Myra, somewhat after I’ve talked with you, 
the things that I thought were so big and dark 
don’t seem after all to be the really important.’ 

“That was what your Aunt Myra always asked 
when a person was fretting about this or that, Ts it 
really important? If not, just forget it.’ 

“The really important to her was just bearing 
cheerfully whatever came, and being kind.” And 
as she spoke the housekeeper gazed up at the paint¬ 
ing with a softening tenderness in her eyes. 

“How strange,” Eleanor ruminated. “I thought 
Aunt Myra was very eccentric and that she shut 
herself away from everyone and all because she had 
a great sorrow in her girlhood.” 

“She did have a great sorrow when she was 
young,” Mrs. Treadwell said. “Perhaps that 
was why she understood so well the sorrows of 


58 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


others. I never knew just what happened, for as 
long as I can remember that front room upstairs 
has been closed and locked. My elderly mother 
alone knows the secret it holds, if indeed it holds 
any.” 

‘‘Your mother knows, Mrs. Treadwell?” Eleanor 
asked eagerly, “Will she not tell me?” 

The housekeeper sadly shook her head. “Unfor¬ 
tunately my mother’s mind has rambled for years,” 
she replied. “Only now and then can she recall 
the past. I have often asked about the closed room 
but mother always looks up at me keenly and then 
invariably replies, ‘It is locked.’ And that is all 
she will say. Whether or no she recalls the day of 
the first closing of that room and the circumstances 
accompanying it, I have now no way of knowing. 
Miss Myra sent me away to a convent school when 
I was small and I remained there until I was nineteen. 
I then married and did not return here to stay until 
five years ago. Because of my mother’s failing 
mind I came to take the position of housekeeper.” 

The young people had wandered to another 
room. Mrs. Treadwell went away to attend to the 
routine of her duties and Eleanor was left alone 
with the painting. She stood looking up at the 
sweet face of the little old lady and tears slowly 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


59 


gathered in her eyes. At last she reached out her 
arms and with a half sob she said, “Aunt Myra, dear 
Aunt Myra! How I wish I had known you, but 
even though I did not, I love you, and I thank you 
for your gift. I, too, will try to think only of those 
things which are the really important.’’ 

The girl turned away, for she heard her friends 
calling to her. They wondered why she seemed so 
subdued in her manner, but to only her “Kindred 
Spirit” did she confide, although not until they were 
cjuite alone. 

“If we could enter that closed room, perhaps we 
would find there the solution of the mystery,” Mar¬ 
garet told her. 

“Perhaps,” Eleanor replied, “but it was my 
aunt’s wish that I should not enter until this un¬ 
known friend of hers accompanies me, and that wish 
shall be fulfilled.” 

The young people had been charmed with the 
long front room and had exclaimed with apprecia¬ 
tion over each piece of quaint or antique furniture 
and had stood long before the paintings, several of 
which depicted the sea in varying moods. In one 
a crashing surf after a storm was flinging spray 
high over jagged rocks. In another the same scene 
had been painted on a day of perfect calm and there 


60 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


was a wonderful blue in the water and over all an 
abiding sense of peace and rest. 

“Mrs. Treadwell,” Eleanor called as the house¬ 
keeper appeared for a moment in an open doorway, 
“were these paintings made near here? The same 
rocky point seems to be in several of them.” 

The housekeeper advanced smiling at the ques¬ 
tioner. “Yes, Miss Eleanor,” she replied. “The 
artist of whom I was telling you, the one who spent 
last summer in a mountain cabin, painted all these 
at the same time that he made the portrait of your 
aunt.” 

“He must be a real genius,” Peyton remarked 
admiringly. “I have visited many galleries but have 
never seen the sea after a storm more realistically 
portrayed.” 

“They are all beautiful,” Virginia added as she 
stepped closer to decipher, (if she could), the name 
in the corner. There had been a sudden hope in 
her heart that the initials might prove to be H. W. 
but instead they were J. G. Babs having noted the 
action, at once suspected the motive, and, as the 
housekeeper was gone, she laughingly remarked, 
“Virg thought she had the mystery solved, but, alas, 
it isn’t even a clue.” Then to Eleanor, “Do you 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 61 

know the artist’s name? What do J. G. stand for 
really ?” 

Their hostess replied, “Mrs. Treadwell told me 
that a Mr. Jonathan Goddard painted my aunt’s 
portrait. He was not well and came from some¬ 
where to these mountains to recuperate. I asked 
Mrs. Treadwell where the cabin in which he stayed 
is situated but she vaguely replied that although it 
must be in the range of mountains nearest us, no 
one seemed to have any definite idea just where it 
is, nor, indeed, where to find the trail which leads 
to it. She believes that it has been unoccupied since 
Mr. Goddard left.” 

As Eleanor talked, she advanced toward the wide 
circling stairway which led to the rooms above. 
Having reached the upper corridor, the young peo¬ 
ple paused and suddenly they all felt awed as though 
they were in the presence of something sacred or 
mysterious, perhaps both. 

Four doors were standing wide open, two on 
either side of the hall but the one at the front which 
led into a chamber corresponding with the large 
room below, was closed and supposedly locked, al¬ 
though not one of the young people thought of 
turning the knob to assure themselves that this was 
the fact. It would seem almost a sacrilege to touch 


62 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


that closed door until the wishes of the Great-Aunt 
Myra were fulfilled. 

The four rooms which they might enter at will 
were two of them for the lads and the other two 
for their sisters and girl friends. 

There had been a comparatively recent addition 
to the house at the back and in it was a pleasant 
apartment where lived Mr. and Mrs. Treadwell, a 
door at the rear end of the long hall led into this 
wing. 

“I’m glad the housekeeper and her husband are to 
be so near,” Babs confided to Margaret, for, al¬ 
though this isn’t supposed to be a haunted house, 
there surely is something mysterious about, well, 
about everything.” 

Great-Aunt Myra’s eyes would have twinkled 
just then I am sure had she heard. Perhaps they 
did, who knows. 

“Tomorrow,” Malcolm said, “there are two 
places I would like to visit. One is that rocky 
point of the paintings and the other is the cabin 
that no one can find.” 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


63 


CHAPTER IX. 

MISUNDERSTANDINGS. 

Such a jolly time as the young people had that 
morning, for, having returned from their walk to 
the Point o* Rocks, Peyton suggested that they all 
take a dip in the sea. Mrs. Treadwell pointed out 
to them a little path she often followed, and where 
she told them they would find an ideal bathing beach. 

After an hour in the almost quiet waters that were 
sheltered by the out-jutting Point o* Rocks, the 
young people returned to the house exhilarated and 
hungry as Russian wolves in winter. 

Mrs. Treadwell had anticipated this, and a bounte¬ 
ous luncheon awaited them, after which they de¬ 
clared that those who wished might indulge in the 
luxury of a siesta, but that, when the clock struck 
three, they were to gather on the wide veranda and 
plan what they would do in the late afternoon. 

Margaret had gone to her room to procure a book 
which she was reading. Chancing to glance out of 


64 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


a window, she saw Eleanor and Malcolm sauntering 
toward the orange grove together. 

There was a pang of regret in her heart, for she 
had hoped that Malcolm would like to have her read 
to him while he rested in one of the hammocks which 
Mr. Treadwell had hung out under the live oaks. 

Slowly she went downstairs, the book in her hand, 
although she scarcely knew that she carried it. After 
all, was this not the very thing she had decided that 
she must not do, yearn for the companionship of 
Malcolm? She loved him, that she had to acknowl¬ 
edge, but also she loved Eleanor, and Babs had said 
that they were unusually well suited for each other. 

Slowly she walked toward the live oaks, and, 
throwing herself listlessly into a hammock, she let 
the book slip to the ground. Closing her eyes she 
rebuked herself for her selfishness. Then, as she 
lay there, the rustling of the leaves, the soft soughing 
of the wind in the trees quieted her and she was ac¬ 
tually drowsing when she heard the snapping of 
twigs and then a voice she knew so well, exclaiming, 
“Have I found the Sleeping Beauty and may I waken 
her as did the prince of old?” 

It was Malcolm, and stooping he kissed her lightly 
on the forehead. Margaret’s heart was in a flutter. 
He surely wouldn’t do that unless he cared, but then 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


65 


came another thought, “I mustn't let him care for 
me. What have I to give him? Nothing, but Eleanor 
would share with him this beautiful estate and he 
would not be so worn-out and weary as he is now.” 
Rising she said, “I do believe that I had fallen asleep. 
It's so lovely and peaceful out here under the trees, 
but now I will bequeath my hammock to you. I am 
going indoors.” And, to the amazement of the lad, 
Megsy rose and, smiling at him, though her lips 
quivered, she hurried away. 

Malcolm seated himself in the deserted hammock 
and wondered about it. Had Megsy been offended 
because of his simple caress? He had often done the 
same thing to Virginia, and were they not both his 
sisters, one really and the other by adoption ? Stoop¬ 
ing, he picked up the book that had fallen. “The Vir¬ 
ginian,” he said aloud. There was a mark in it show¬ 
ing how far Margaret had read the story. Malcolm 
reclined in the hammock and was soon deeply inter¬ 
ested in the tale of love, humor and adventure. He 
had just reached the bookmark when Peyton called 
through his hands, held megaphone-fashion: “Three 
o’clock! Everybody come! We are about to start on 
a get-hungry-for-dinner hike!” 

“Poor Mrs. Treadwell, if she heard that,” Mai- 


66 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


colm smilingly said as he joined the group. “She will 
wish we were all back on the desert, I fear.” 

Margaret, he noted, was seated on the veranda 
railing chatting with Babs. She did not glance at 
her guardian as he joined the group. “How con¬ 
ceited I have been to think that so attractive a girl 
would care for so uninteresting a cowboy as I am,” 
he rebuked himself. “What do I know about the 
polished w r ays of the city youth to which Margaret 
has been accustomed, but I can be a good guardian 
as I try to be a good brother to Virginia.” Almost 
sadly he turned away. 

“Let’s follow a different trail every time we set 
out,” Peyton suggested as they trooped over the wide 
lawn among the low glossy-leaved lemon trees and 
toward the foothills, beyond which rose the rugged 
range of circling mountains. 

The trail they first followed led through an arroyo 
and up to a wide flat mesa. To the surprise of the 
explorers they found there a very old and forlorn- 
looking cemetery. 

“Is it an Indian burying ground, do you suppose ?” 
Eleanor asked, smiling in her most bewitching man¬ 
ner up into the serious face of the bronzed giant who 
chanced to be at her side. 

Peyton having heard the question was the one to 


r 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


67 


reply. “Mr. Treadwell told me about this place/’ 
he said, then by way of explanation he added, “While 
the rest of you ‘siestad/ if I may coin a word, I was 
talking with Eleanor’s gardener, asking what points 
of interest there were near that we might like to visit. 
It seems that long ago, during a rush for gold, many 
men, some with families, visited these mountains. 
They were disappointed, however, and many of them 
went farther North and those who remained were 
killed in an Indian raid and were later buried by the 
good fathers who built the mission in San Ceritos 
Valley. That one tall wooden cross was erected to 
mark all of the graves for, you see, none of them 
have head-stones.” 

“Not a very cheerful place to visit on a happy holi¬ 
day,” Benjy remarked as he started away, followed 
closely by Babs and Margaret, but they turned back 
when they heard an exclamation of excited surprise 
which had been uttered by Eleanor. They saw that, 
with Malcolm, she was stooping over what appeared 
to be a recently-made grave. 

“What have you two found,” Benjy inquired as 
he went back. The other young people had gathered 
about and they all gazed curiously at the recently 
turned earth. In one place near the head, the grave 


68 


VIRGINIAN ROMANCE 


had been crudely smoothed and two letters had been 
formed with small round stones. 

“How strange!” Eleanor said, looking up at Mal¬ 
colm. “Surely that first letter is an H. and the sec¬ 
ond is unmistakably a W.” 

What could it mean ? This could not be the grave 
of the Hugh Ward whom they sought, and yet, those 
were the initials formed by the small stones. 

They returned sooner than they had expected to the 
house and found the gardener irrigating the trees. 

He took off his hat and scratched his head thought¬ 
fully when Malcolm asked if he knew about the re¬ 
cently-made grave in the little cemetery on the mesa. 

“I don't know much about it,” he told them. “That 
grave was dug up a month or so back for some old 
man who lived in ‘The Home for the Aged and In¬ 
firm’ over at Torrence. Seems like he requested to be 
buried up there instead of at the poor farm and Mrs. 
Friend, the matron, she’s that kind, she’d do any¬ 
thing in her power for those old men. But who he 
was or why he wanted to be buried there, I never did 
hear.” 

“Let’s go to Torrence tomorrow and find out,” 
Eleanor suggested, then she added: “Would you be 
able to drive us over there early tomorrow, Mr. 
Treadwell?” 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


69 


“My wife’s father will be glad to take you in the 
coach,” the gardener told her. “He’s deaf as a post 
but I will tell him before you start just where you 
wish to be taken.” 

“Thank you,” Eleanor said, then as she heard a 
musically-toned bell ringing within, she added, look¬ 
ing brightly around at her guests, “First bell for 
supper unless I am mistaken. Mrs. Treadwell prom¬ 
ised that she would always give us one-half hour to 
freshen up.” 

Margaret had slipped away to the hammock to 
find her book, but, to her surprise it was not there. 
However, when she reached her room she found it 
leaning against the closed door and in it was a note, 
“Little Ward-of-Mine: I have read this far. Some 
time I hope that we may read the rest of it together. 
Your Guardian.” 

Megsy caught the book up and pressed it to her 
cheek. Then recalling her resolution to do what she 
thought would be for her guardian’s best good, she 
thrust it far back into an open drawer. Babs entered 
just then and Margaret looked up almost guiltily, but 
Barbara, humming a little song, noticed her not at 
all, for she was thinking of a pleasant plan for the 
evening which Benjy had just suggested. 


70 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


CHAPTER X. 

A GHOST STORY. 

“What a glorious sunset!” Babs exclaimed as 
the young people assembled on the wide veranda 
after the evening repast. ‘'What shall we do to 
make merry tonight ?” Eleanor asked of everybody 
in general, but of Malcolm in particular. 

“Suppose we make a bon-fire on the part of the 
beach that is nearest and sit around and tell ghost 
stories,” Benjy suggested. 

“Why ghost stories?” Margaret inquired. “I’d 
rather hear tales of love and adventure.” 

“Megsy, what heresy! Whoever heard of any¬ 
one preferring to tell love stories when they could 
tell ghost stories,” Barbara teased. 

“Maybe Margaret is in love; queerer things than 
that have happened,” Peyton remarked, not in the 
least supposing that he was saying anything that 
was even remotely true. 

Malcolm, glancing at his ward, saw the sudden 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


71 


flush of embarrassment suffusing her cheeks and 
wishing to change the conversation for her sake he 
called gaily. “Forward march! Let’s carry out 
Benjy’s excellent suggestion; that is, if we are pro¬ 
vided with matches.” 

The youngest lad thrust his hand into one of his 
pockets as he replied, “Like the proverbal small boy 
of fiction I can produce most anything that is needed 
in an emergency. Behold!” laughingly he held forth 
a tangle of string in which were entwined a stub of 
a pencil, several keys of varying sizes and a dozen 
matches. 

“Which reminds me of the Swiss Family Robin¬ 
son,Eleanor remarked as they walked across the 
lawn and toward the beach. “What a marvelous 
bag the mother of that family had, out of which she 
produced whatever her husband or children might 
require.” 

“I devoured that story when I was a youngster,” 
Malcolm remarked. Since Megsy seemed to pur¬ 
posely avoid him, the cowboy walked with Eleanor, 
who seemed to welcome his companionship and 
they laughed as they recalled incidents that had 
thrilled them in the ancient tale about which they 
were talking. 

“Someone is on the beach ahead of us,” Benjy, 


72 VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 

who was in the lead with Babs, called over his 
shoulder. 

“I declare if it isn’t our octogenarian driver 
whom we are assured is as deaf as a post.” 

It was indeed the old man who was walking away 
from them and up the beach nor did he return until 
the young people had a bon-fire merrily crackling 
and blazing. 

“What kind of a story are we to hear and who 
is to tell it ?” Eleanor inquired as they sat upon the 
warm, dry sand. 

“Not guilty!” one boy after another sang out. 

“Somebody must be tale-teller or how will there 
be any told?” Babs protested. 

Suddenly Peyton sprang to his feet. “The hero 
of our recent drive is retracing his steps,” he de¬ 
clared. “Can’t we induce him to tell us a story? 
He must have had many a thrilling adventure, for 
he has lived around here for almost a century.” 

“Great!” Benjy sang out, “Let’s ask him. I 
know all kinds of sign language. I believe we can 
make him understand.” 

That the lad was not boasting vainly was very 
evident, for, a few moments later, the young people 
about the fire saw Peyton and Benjy leading the 
elderly Mr. Howitt in their direction and they could 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


73 


tell by his wide toothless smile that he felt both 
complimented and pleased. 

The girls piled cushions they had brought, against 
a boulder. Malcolm put his great coat about the old 
man’s shoulders and then they sat near him and he 
knew by their eager expressions that they were wait¬ 
ing for a story. 

“How’d you like to hear about a ghost that used 
to haunt these mountains,” he began, “May be 
hangin’ round here now for all I know.” Babs and 
Megsy looked fearfully into the gathering darkness 
beyond the firelight but Peyton and Benjy nodded 
their heads vigorously and shouted—“Tell it! 
Dor 

“I never did believe much in specters myself,” 
the old man began while a sudden flare-up of the 
fire revealed his toothless gums, his sunken eyes 
and his leathery face that was deeply furrowed. 

“I’d heard tell about the ghost of the mountains 
time an’ again, but I never put much stock in it till 
at last somethin’ happened that seemed convincin.’ 
I was over to Torrence one night, ’bout fifteen 
years ago, gettin’ groceries at the country store. 
There was allays some miners and trappers settin’ 
’round swappin’ yarns. This night I saw that one 
of ’em was white as chalk for all his weather-brown 


74 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


skin and he seemed to be tellin’ somethin’ that was 
excitin’ to himself, but the others took no stock in 
it. 

“I was younger than I am now, and sort of in¬ 
terested in anythin’ that was goin’ on, and so, when 
I’d finished my buyin’, I straddled a barrel and took 
to listenin’ to the yarn. 

‘Tick Ax Alek, they called the fellow as was 
talkin,’ I don’t know why zactly, ’less ’twas because 
he was allays hauling round an ax whackin’ here 
and whackin’ there hopin’ to find gold, but just 
missin’ it. When I joined them he was a say in’: 
‘Wall, you fellers kin jeer all as you wants to, but 
I know what I heard and I heard it plain. I was 
a prospectin’ up near the old cemetery and I thought 
I was findin’ payin’ ore, an’ that’s why I didn’t quit 
when the sun went down nor when the moon came 
up neither. I was there till midnight. I’d plum 
forgot the graveyard bein’ so near when all of a 
sudden I heard someone saying’, plain as yer hearin’ 
me this minute, “Lost! Lost!” with a mournful, 
drawn-out wail growing dismaller each time. I 
tell you, I sprang up quick and looked all around 
but not an object was there between me and the 
graves and there wasn’t a white specter rising out 
of any of ’em neither. I didn’t stay for closer in- 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


75 


spection, I kin tell ye, but I shouldered my pick an’ 
a hurricane couldn’t a-beat me down to my cabin. 
I barred the windows and the door, and went to 
bed, but I kept my eyes open wide all night. 

“ ‘The next day when the sun was high I went 
back to the same place and right where I’d ben dig- 
gin’ the night before I found—’ the old man 
paused.” 

“What—what did he find?” asked the young 
people in eager chorus. 

“ ‘I found a gun as had two letters carved on the 
wooden handle.’ ” 

“Were they H. W. ?” Peyton asked so suddenly 
that the old man turned toward him having noticed 
a movement though he had not heard the question. 

Then he continued. “The men sittin’ ’round in 
the store took more stock in Pick Ax Alek’s story 
after he mentioned gun an’ they wanted to have a 
look at it if ’twas real. Wall, Alek said, if they’d 
all come to the store the next night at the same 
hour, he’d fetch the gun and show it to ’em. He 
said he’d like to have the store-keeper take a look 
at the letters, for bein’ as he’d had some schoolin’ 
he might make somethin’ out of ’em. 

“The trappers and miners pretended as they had 
no special interest in the matter, but if ’twas con- 


76 VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 

venient, they ’lowed as they might happen to drop 
around. 

“My old woman thought Fd gone plum crazy to 
want to go way back to Torrence the very next 
night, ’specially as Fd bought all we’d need for a 
month but when she heard as how I had forgot to get 
her snuff, she gave in. She never knew I forgot it 
on purpose. 

“Anyhow, there I was settin’ in the store when 
the miners an’ trappers, one by one, dropped in sort 
of casual like, and we waited and waited, but Pick 
Ax Alek didn’t come at the hour he had said he 
would, nor for some time after. Those men were 
gettin’ pretty mad, for no one likes to be fooled, 
when of a sudden we all sat up and listened. We 
heard someone outside racing like mad, and into 
the store lunged Pick, an’ his face was scared lookin’, 
I kin tell ye. He had on his good suit of clothes 
(those he wore when he came here from the East), 
an’ in one hand he had his ax and a bundle in the 
other. 

“ ‘Fellers,’ he said, T stopped in ter say good¬ 
bye. I’m goin’ to beat it fer the railroad. So long. 
Can’t stop.’ 

“He acted as though he’d gone plum crazy, kept 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


77 


peerin’ toward the dark windows as though he 
thought he might see a face lookin’ in. 

“Giant Jake sprang up and pinned him ’gainst 
the wall an’ he roared: 

“ ‘Look a-here, Pick, have you gone loony or is 
this some more foolin’ yer tryin’ to do? Speak up 
fer we’re not men to take nonsense from anyone. 
Whar is that gun you was yarnin’ about?’ 

“ ‘That’s what I don’t know,’ Pick said, an’ he 
looked up plum-honest scared, we was sure he was 
tellin’ it right. ‘When I got home last night ’twas 
purty late. I’ll own I was sort of scared, but I 
reached my cabin all right. The door and windows 
was barred just as I’d left ’em but when I got in¬ 
side I saw somethin’ that made my hair stand on 
end. The gun was gone!’ 

“We had to believe his story, ’caus ’twas plain as 
how he believed it himself and there wasn’t no 
keeping him neither. He broke away and made for 
the nearest railroad. He must have boarded a 
freight that night. Anyhow, we never heard from 
him again.” 

The old man paused. 

“That’s a good ghost story, all right,” Peyton 
said, “Is there any more to it?” 

This remark was not heard and, as the old man 


78 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


was endeavoring to rise, Peyton and Malcolm 
sprang to aid him. Then someone suggested that 
they all escort him to the lodge. When they were 
returning to the big house, the girls clung to each 
other, looking about fearfully, for surely the mourn¬ 
ful sobbing of the surf seemed to be calling: “Lost, 
Lost. L-o-s-t!” 

“I wonder if there is another chapter to that 
story,” Malcolm said, when they were all in the 
brightly-lighted living room. 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


79 


CHAPTER XI. 

ADVENTURES BEGINNING. 

The next day, according to the plans they had 
made, Mr. Howitt agreed to drive the young people 
through San Ceritos Pass to the mountain town of 
Torrence, where they wished to visit the Home of the 
Aged and Infirm, hoping to obtain there some in¬ 
formation regarding the supposed elderly gentleman, 
Hugh Ward. 

The old man arrived early with the coach and he 
was as pleased as a child. He confided to his daugh¬ 
ter, Mrs. Treadwell, that though the young folks 
didn’t know it, they were celebrating his eightieth 
birthday. 

Malcolm and Peyton appeared from the direction 
of the kitchen carrying huge hampers in which there 
seemed to be much more food than these young peo¬ 
ple could possibly consume in the one day that they 
were to be away, but the housekeeper insisted that 
they take it, for the coach being old, might break 


80 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


down, she told them, and if it did they would have 
to remain all night in the mountains. 

Margaret shuddered when she heard that, but 
chancing to glance at a certain giant-like lad, she felt 
protected even though of late he had seemed to pay 
her no attention. The truth was that Malcolm had 
decided that for some reason Margaret did not care 
for his companionship, while Eleanor always wel¬ 
comed him gladly. Babs noticing how often these 
two were together, thought that her prophecy was 
being fulfilled and she confided this jubilantly to 
Virg in the hearing of Margaret. 

Everyone climbed into the old coach. Of course 
the hostess was the last of the girls to ascend, and 
Malcolm, who had been assisting the others, stepped 
in and sat by Eleanor. She smiled up at him in a 
manner that showed a friendly understanding existed 
between them, Margaret thought, and, although she 
sighed in her heart, never before had her guardian 
known her to be merrier or to chatter so much ap¬ 
parently light-hearted nonsense. 

He often glanced across at his ward, whose cheeks 
were flushed and whose eyes sparkled, but, if she 
looked his way, he, too, turned that his gaze might 
not embarrass her, and so she did not even guess 
that his every thought was of her, although he was. 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


81 


of course, courteously attentive whenever Eleanor 
spoke. 

The road through the canyon was picturesque but 
very rough. At times the coach lurched from one 
side to the other, but the young people had faith in 
the ancient but sure-footed horses, as well as in their 
still more ancient driver. 

Peyton sat on the seat with Mr. Howitt, and now 
and then, by shouting very close to the old man's ear, 
he succeeded in making him understand some query. 

“I wonder where Pick Ax Alek's cabin is,” Benjy 
said, “I’d like to visit it some fine day, wouldn't you, 
Malcolm ?” 

The older lad assented. 

“I wouldn't want to,” Babs said with a shudder. 

“Nor I," put in Margaret. 

“I don't believe there is such a place,” Eleanor 
remarked. “The tale is probably all imaginary. In 
nearly every remote section there are several ghost 
stories current, but no one can ever be found who 
really saw the apparition.” 

“I wonder why we’re stopping,” Virg said, look¬ 
ing out of a window when she realized that the coach 
was no longer moving. 

“To rest the horses before we begin the steep as¬ 
cent ahead of us, I presume,” Malcolm told her. This 


82 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


surmise proved correct, for the old man replied as 
though he had heard the remark, “Putty hard travel¬ 
ing from here to Torrence,” then waving his whip 
toward a wide crevice in a wall of rock, he added in 
his cracked, high-pitched voice, “That thar is the 
trail to Pick Ax Alek’s cabin. Like as not, though, 
it's burned down. We had a scorcher of a forest fire 
up here last summer, but luck had it that a thunder¬ 
storm came up just in time to save Torrence from 
being burned to the ground and it may have saved 
Pick’s cabin as well, but I dunno as anyone cares 
either way.” 

When the coach was again started Megsy clutched 
Virg and whispered, “Hark! what was that?” 

Out of the crevice in the wall of rock came a wail¬ 
ing sound which formed the words, “Lost! Lost! 
L-o-s-t!” But before they could be greatly frightened, 
Benjy leaped into the road, shouting, “Hold on! 
Don’t leave me!” 

“You imp of mischief, trying to frighten us that 
way,” Eleanor said, shaking her finger at him. 

“That’s a trail I mean to follow at my first oppor¬ 
tunity,” the lad told them as he swung up into the 
coach. 

Torrence consisted of a few scattered homes sur¬ 
rounded by neat orange groves, a group of adobe 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


83 


buildings belonging to the county and a store where 
one could obtain anything from a wagon to a needle. 
The garrulous old man nodded his head toward it as 
they approached. “That thar is the very same 
grocery as ’twas when Pick told the yarn about the 
gun. Being made of logs the way ’tis, ’twill probab¬ 
ly still be standin’ at the crack o’ doom. Want to 
step in and buy suthin’? Abe Swiggett is always 
glad to have folks stop to pass the time o’ day, even 
if they don’t buy.” Then, looking at Peyton, he 
added, “Abe’s son is ’bout yer age, I calc’late. He 
helps some around the store summers when he’s 
vacationin’. His Pa was set on his having higher 
lamin’ and so when he’d lamed all he could here in 
Torrence, Abe sent him winters to a city school. Nice 
chap, though, Jean is. Don’t get set up a bit with all 
his lamin’. Allays seems to be glad to get back to 
the mountins even if things are tonier in the city.” 

The young people, being glad to stretch a bit, 
climbed out of the coach and entered the store, in 
which all manner of things were hung up for display. 
A stout gentleman with a genial, moon-like face, ad¬ 
vanced to meet them. After welcoming the old man 
with a vigorous hand-shake, he asked the young 
ladies what they would like to see. 

Now, the truth was that they had really wished to 


84 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


see the store in which fifteen years before Pick Ax 
Alek had told his tale of a ghost, but, knowing that 
they were expected to purchase something, Babs sur¬ 
prised them all by demanding one dollar’s worth of 
red-and-white sticks of peppermint candy. The son, 
Jean, did not appear during their brief stay. When 
they were again in the coach and it was lurching 
along the rough descent into the valley, the young 
people laughed merrily, for Babs was clutching a 
big brown bag that was bulging with sticks of pep¬ 
permint. 

“Well, they will keep forever,” she protested when 
the others teased, “and we just had to buy some¬ 
thing.” 

“We didn’t see the learned son, did we?” Benjy 
remarked. 

“He’s away in the mountains for a day or so, his 
father said,” Peyton told them, “acting as guide for 
a couple of hunters who are out after deer. He likes 
to earn what money he can during vacation, I judge, 
to help pay his way through school.” 

“Idea!” Benjy exclaimed, leaping up so suddenly 
that everyone turned to look at him. 

“It’s a good thing you don’t have an idea often if 
it affects you that way,” Peyton teased, “but out with 
it and we will pronounce judgment.” 


VIRGINIA'S ROMANCE 


85 


“Why don’t we hire this said Jean to guide us to 
the cabin of Pick Ax Alek? We could chip in and 
pay him for his services and thereby we would not 
only be helping this rural youth to obtain ‘larnin,’ but 
We would also be satisfying our most natural curiosity 
concerning the locality of the cabin in question. ,, 

“Period!” Eleanor said. 

“No, it's a question mark,” Benjy retorted. “Don't 
you all think it a good idea ?” 

“Let's decide the matter at a later date,” Virginia 
suggested, “for just ahead of us in yonder fertile 
valley we behold our destination.” 

“It is ‘over the hills to the poor house’ in very 
truth, but with due apology to the mountains for 
seeming to belittle their grandeur,” Benjy began. 

“How eloquent you are today, Benjy boy,” Peyton 
laughingly remarked. 

“I’m glad for the poor old people that there is a 
wonderful view from here,” Margaret said. She 
had not spoken for a long time, nor, for that matter, 
had Malcolm. Neither dreamed that each was the 
almost constant object of the other’s thought. So 
often does a simple misunderstanding keep us from 
the full realization of a happiness that is really ours 
to possess. 

Mr. Howitt was soon turning the heads of the 


86 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


horses in between two high posts that had been 
made by piling rocks one on another. The top 
stone on the right post was a balancing rock which 
seemed ever about to fall but never did. “Howsom- 
ever thar’s allays a furst time,” their aged driver 
told them, “an’ so I keep to the fur side of the 
road.” Then he added, “Thar used to be an old 
man livin’ here, Henk Walley was his name. He 
used to set by the hour watchin’ this rock. Seemed 
like he wasn’t quite right. Anyhow he took to 
sayin’ that when that thar rock did fall somethin’ 
was goin’ to happen in these here mountains that 
would be put in every newspaper in the country. 
As though anything could happen in this hid-away 
place that folks outside would care a tarnell about. 
Anyhow, that’s what Henk said up to the day he 
started on his long journey.” 

The rocking stone having been safely passed, the 
girls looked over the grounds where, in the shade 
of spreading pine trees, many old men sat on the 
benches and nearly all of them were undeniably in¬ 
firm. 

They watched the coach with a dignified solemnity 
as it swung up to the main building and stopped at 
the front door. 

The matron appeared and Virginia and Eleanor 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


87 


went up on the veranda to speak with her. They 
were glad to know that the motherly-appearing wo¬ 
man was named Mrs. Friend, for surely, all of those 
helpless old-men-children needed the ministering 
hand of someone who was truly a friend. 

Half an hour later the coach was again passing 
the tipping rock and when they were out on the 
highway Peyton asked, “Did you girls obtain any 
information about the grave marked ‘H. W. ?’ ” 

“Yes, we did,” Eleanor replied. “It is the grave 
of Henk Walley, the old man who watched the tip¬ 
ping rock for so long, and so, you see, another clue 
is gone.” 

“I don’t believe there is any such person as Hugh 
Ward,” Babs declared, “or, if there is, he seems to 
be—” 

“Lost! Lost! L-o-s-t!” wailed Benjy from the 
back seat. 

“Look! Look!” Babs exclaimed, leaping to her 
feet, but as the coach lurched, sitting down again 
with unexpected suddenness. 

“What do you see, sister o’ mine?” Peyton in¬ 
quired, peering ahead. “All that I behold is a 
mountain stream and a—” 

“That’s it!” Babs said. “Wouldn’t that ferny 


88 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


nook be just the nicest place in which to eat our 
lunch?” 

“It would, indeed,” Virginia replied, adding, 
“Peyton, please tell Mr. Howitt to stop here.” 

“Tell him,” Peyton repeated, “I'll have to resort 
to something besides words.” Leaning over, the 
lad took the reins, stopped the horses and then he 
pointed at the lunch baskets and pretended to eat 
until the old man at last understood what the young 
people wished to do. 

Half an hour later, when the repast was finished, 
Peyton sang out, “Babs, pass the peppermint candy, 
please.” 

“I haven't any,” that maiden confessed, “It's all 
eaten up.” 

The others looked their surprise. “Barbara 
Blair Wente, do you mean to tell us that you have 
eaten one hundred sticks of peppermint candy all 
by yourself?” came in an astonished chorus. 

The fair head was shaken. “Put on your think¬ 
ing caps,” she said, “and perhaps you will guess who 
ate them.” 

“Oh, I know,” Margaret declared brightly, “I 
saw you go back and give something to that nice 
Mrs. Friend.” 

“That’s just what I did,” Babs told them. “I 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


89 


asked her if her children liked candy and when she 
said that they adored it, I gave her the whole bag 
full, and when I saw how eagerly the old men 
reached for it when that good woman passed it 
around, I decided that I’d visit them again before 
I leave and take two hundred sticks.” 

“Well, I’m glad you gave it to them,” her 
brother said, “but the truth is I’m hankering for a 
stick myself, so let’s go up to the store and purchase 
some more.” 

“Forward march! Follow me!” Benjy sang out, 
“and you will see what you will see.” 

“Probably nothing but what we saw before,” 
Barbara replied, but she was mistaken. 

When the young people entered the store, they 
did indeed see some one who had not been there be¬ 
fore, for, a tall lad was assisting Mr. Abe Swiggett 
in placing some heavy boxes on a high shelf. 

As he descended from the step ladder on which 
he had been standing, the lad tossed his head, 
throwing his long hair out of his eyes after the 
manner of a high school athlete. 

He did not see the young people as his back was 
toward them, and, having reached the floor he called 
up to the older man, “Daddy Swiggett, if I can be 
of further service, I am yours to command, if not, 


90 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


I’ll depart and—” He said no more for Peyton, 
being the last to enter, had closed the door which 
attracted his attention. The lad at once advanced 
toward the newcomers, saying in his courteous, 
though business-like manner: “Good afternoon. Is 
there something that I can show you?” 

It was hard to believe that this gracefully built 
and comely youth was the son of the portly Mr. 
Swiggett, but, as Babs said afterwards, “Perhaps 
he looks more like his mother whom we have not 
seen.” 

Peyton stepped ahead of the others with out¬ 
stretched hand, as he exclaimed heartily, “You are 
Jean Swiggett, are you not? Mr. Howitt has been 
telling us about you.” Then by way of introduction 
he added, first indicating their hostess, “This young 
lady is your new neighbor, Miss Eleanor Pettes, the 
great-niece of Miss Myra, and we are her guests.” 

The grey eyes of the lad glowed with an expres¬ 
sion of real pleasure. Holding out his hand to 
Eleanor he said with warmth, “I am so glad to 
know the niece of one of the best friends that I 
ever had; in truth, the best friend that any one in 
these mountains ever could have. It didn’t matter 
whether it was a joy or sorrow that came to us, 
the first to be told was that dear, patient, little old 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


91 


lady. If we went to her with a joy, we came away 
with it doubled, and if it was a grief that we took 
to her, when we left our step was lighter and the 
future seemed brighter. Miss Myra used to say 
that she, too, had a cloud she supposed, but that for 
the sake of her friends, she tried to wear silver lin¬ 
ing on the outside.” Then he continued. “How 
you, who are her own niece, must have loved her.” 

The girl felt a pang of real regret because she, 
too, had not shared in the love of that heart which 
had been big enough to find in it a place for all of 
these mountain people, however humble. 

“I never knew Aunt Myra,” she confessed, “but 
I do love her, now when it is too late.” 

The lad, realizing that what he had said had in 
some way saddened his new neighbor, eagerly 
added, “But it isn’t too late. Miss Myra has left 
you her estate, probably because she knew that you 
would carry on the good work that she did among 
the people.” Then he said, turning to Peyton, “But 
perhaps there was something that you wished?” 

“That’s right!” the lad addressed responded as he 
thrust one hand in his pocket. “We would like to 
purchase some peppermint candy.” 

“Sorry to disoblige you.” It was the older man 
who spoke as he advanced toward them, “This little 


92 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


gal bought out the whole stock when you young 
folks was here before, but thar are some lemon sticks 
if they’ll do.” 

“All right, Mr. Swiggett, we’ll take whatever you 
have.” When the candy had been placed in a bag 
and paid for, Eleanor held out her hand again to 
Jean as she said with sweet sincerity, “Would you 
come to Aunt Myra’s home tomorrow and spend the 
day with us? Come as early as you can and bring 
your bathing suit.” The lad turned inquiringly to¬ 
ward his portly father, who replied genially. “Go, 
go, son, by all means. Those boxes can be histed 
next week as well as now. It’s yer vacation and I 
want you to be havin’ good times, and thank you. 
Miss Pettes, for askin’ him.” 

Then he added, “We’re mighty glad to have some 
one who is kin to our Miss Myra a livin’ neighbor 
to us. Hope you’ll get over to Torrence real often.” 

Later when the coach was starting the descent of 
the San Ceritos Pass, Peyton said, “I like that chap, 
Jean Swiggett, and I believe that he will add greatly 
to our good times and we in turn will try to add 
to his.” 

The young people were in a flutter of excitement. 
How they did wish Mr. Howitt could hear, for they 
were so eager to learn more about that fine lad Jean 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


93 


Swiggett, but, as they were starting on the down¬ 
ward way in the San Ceritos Pass, the old man 
seemed in no mood for conversation, for, although 
his horses knew every rolling stone, it would seem, 
in the pass, a misstep on their part would hurl the 
coach into an arroyo which would at least be dis¬ 
astrous to the old vehicle if not to the occupants. 

At last, however, they were on the wide valley 
road, which, since it was the highway between two 
widely separated coast cities, was kept in the best of 
repair. 

“Now see if you can induce Mr. Howitt to tell us 
something about Jean,” Eleanor called up to Pey¬ 
ton. 

With a gesture of hopelessness the lad shouted 
close in the old man’s ear, “Nice boy, that Jean.” 

The driver nodded and the young people were 
overjoyed, believing that the spokesman had been 
successful, but disappointment quickly followed 
when Mr. Howitt drawled, “Yaas, it’s a purty trust¬ 
worthy team. I’ve been drivin’ ’em upward of 
twenty year. Guess what they don’t know about 
the mountain roads isn’t much worth knowin’. Git- 
ap, Sally! Git along Sam! Show these young peo¬ 
ple your best paces.” 

It was hard for the boys and girls to keep from 


94 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


laughing, but not for one second would they have 
permitted their natural mirth to hurt the feelings of 
the kind old man. 

“Couldn’t you try again?” Babs asked her 
brother. 

The lad addressed looked dispairingly over his 
shoulder, but once more he shouted, “Mr. Howitt, 
tell us about Jean Swiggett.” 

“Wall, it is some,” was the puzzling reply. This 
was almost too much for the young people, and 
Benjy, being on the back seat and out of sight of the 
old man, bent double with silent laughter. 

They couldn’t imagine to what their driver re¬ 
ferred until he continued, “Howsomever, considerin’ 
it’s age, ’tisn’t surprisin’ it’s so rickety. Why, this 
here coach used to run steady over the mountains, 
carried the mails and passengers before the railroad 
was put through. Mr. Swiggett, Jean’s father, was 
a young man then and darin’ I kin tell ye. Many 
a time he’s had bags o’ gold dust aboard this craft 
and every time he started out to take it to the city up 
North, he knew just as well as he did when it hap¬ 
pened, that somewhar along the line thar’d be a 
hold-up. Every time he’d come to a pass he’d ex¬ 
pect bandits to step out from behind the rocks, and 
’twan’t often his expectation was disappointed, but 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


95 


they never got the drop on ole Abe, seemed like. 
Anyhow he got the reputation in these parts for 
bein' bandit proof, so ter speak, and I guess he was 
that all right. Anyhow he’s livin’, but folks that 
knew him in those old days never thought as how 
he could settle down to a peaceable life in a grocery 
store. The railroad bein’ put through changed a 
lot o’ things and most of all, I do believe it changed 
old Abe Swiggett. Of course he wasn’t old then. 
He married the best-lookin’ gal in these parts, but it 
was quite a spell before Jean came. 

“I kin tell ye they set a store by him, and right 
they are, too, for never was there a smarter, more 
upstandin’ boy that that same Jean Swiggett. Wall, 
here we are. Hope you all had a nice time. I did, 
though I’m tired enough to sleep a week.” 

It was not until the young people were all in the 
big living room that they gave vent to their mirth. 
“I never knew anything funnier in all my days,” 
Babs declared. “If Mr. Howtt had heard the ques¬ 
tion he couldn’t have answered it better.” 

“I can hardly wait until tomorrow to talk with 
Jean Swiggett,” Eleanor said, “for, since he was 
such a close friend of Aunt Myra’s, he may know 
about our mysterious Hugh Ward.” 


96 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


CHAPTER XII. 

A JOLLY SWIMMING PARTY. 

The young people were greatly excited (though 
why, they couldn’t understand), when they met the 
next morning for breakfast. 

“I feel as though something were about to hap¬ 
pen,” Babs said, dramatically. 

Benjy remarked wisely: “Why Mistress Barbara, 
doesn’t something happen every day?” 

“Of course,” their youngest replied, “but I mean 
something different and real interesting.” 

Benjy put a mound of sugar in the center of his 
half of grape fruit. 

“Maybe it’s because our new friend, Jean Swig- 
gett, is coming to spend the day with us,” he sug¬ 
gested. 

“Why, of course, that must be it,” Babs replied, 
revealing her dimple as she smiled at the lad who 
thought she was the prettiest girl that he had ever 
seen. “Honestly,” she added, “I had quite forgotten 
his existence.” 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


97 


Benjy was pleased to hear this, for he was quite 
willing that Babs should forget every lad but him¬ 
self. 

Although Eleanor said nothing, she was more ex¬ 
cited than any of the others, and she planned at the 
very first opportunity that presented to draw Jean 
aside where they might be alone, for she was con¬ 
vinced that if any one knew about the mysterious 
Hugh Ward, surely this lad would. 

It was an hour later when the girls, having com¬ 
pleted their indoor tasks, were out in the garden 
gathering fresh flowers for the vases when they saw 
a horse and rider entering the gate and coming up 
the drive. 

“All hail the conquering hero comes,” Benjy sang 
out and the boys went forward to greet the lad, who 
was indeed their expected guest. 

Leaping to the ground, Jean took Peyton's ex¬ 
tended hand and then Malcolm’s, but Benjy, having 
given the salute of his military academy, had then 
mounted the white pony, and was patting its head 
when the owner turned and smiled up at him. “He’s 
a beauty, Jean,” the younger lad called. Then he 
added, “I do believe I’m horse-hungry. Don’t mis¬ 
understand me. I’m not going to devour your nice 


98 VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 

mount, but at home on the desert I fairly live in the 
saddle.” 

“Go for a canter if you wish,” Jean Swiggett 
called to him. “It’s great sport to ride on the hard 
sand close to the waves. Spider isn’t afraid of the 
water.” 

“Spider, what a name for such a beautiful horse,” 
Eleanor said as she advanced holding out her left 
hand, since her right was filled with fragrant and 
freshly gathered blossoms. “We are indeed glad to 
welcome you, Jean.” Then she laughingly added, 
“There goes Benjy. You didn’t have to make that 
suggestion twice. We probably won’t see him again 
until luncheon, I don’t need to call you Mr. Swiggett, 
do I ? It seems so grown-upish.” 

“Indeed not. I like to be called Jean, and al¬ 
though just at first I may not remember all of your 
names, I’ll soon know them.” 

“I’m glad you brought your bathing suit,” Mal¬ 
colm said. “We plan taking a dip every day in the 
mid-morning, Jean, you may come with us to the 
tool-house, which Mr. Treadwell has kindly loaned 
us during our brief sojourn in these parts.” 

Jean looked up quickly. “Brief!” he repeated, 
“I’m sorry to hear that, I hoped you were going to 
be here for some time.” 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


99 


“They are,” Eleanor replied. “This house party 
is to last a month, and only three days of it are 
gone.” 

“Good!” the mountain lad exclaimed. “Then I 
am in almost at the beginning.” 

“Let’s have a race,” Babs called over her shoulder 
as, with the other girls she started for the house. 
“See who’ll first be ready for the surf?” 

“The boys will be, of course,” Margaret replied, 
as they linked arms and mounted the stairs to their 
room. 

There was a happy little song singing in the heart 
of Megsy, for she had observed that Eleanor treated 
the newcomer with the same graciousness that she 
had bestowed upon Malcolm, and so after all, it had 
not meant that she really cared. 

“Eleanor is just naturally charming,” Margaret 
thought. “She is as sweetly gracious to us girls as 
she is to the boys.” 

Then, when her bathing suit had been donned, 
Margaret whirled about and catching the astonished 
Babs she skipped her about the room as she ex¬ 
claimed, “Oh, Babsie, I’m so happy.” 

“Why, please tell?” the other maiden inquired. 
But Margaret didn’t tell. 

The surf was crashing in down at the Point-o'- 



100 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


Rocks, as Eleanor had named the rugged jutland 
which had been painted by the artist who had visited 
in the mountains the winter before, but, in the cove 
that was sheltered by this small peninsula the water 
was as calm as one could wish. 

“Every seventh wave is a little big,” Babs an¬ 
nounced. 

“Sister, pray tell what size is a thing that is a little 
big?” Peyton called as he swam near her, shaking 
the water out of his eyes. 

“Where’s Malcolm?” Margaret suddenly inquired 
in real terror. Where was he, indeed? Not in sight, 
of that they were sure, but their anxiety lasted only 
a moment, for, far out toward the Point-o’-Rocks 
Malcolm’s wet head appeared. “He’s been swim¬ 
ming under water,” Eleanor said. 

Virginia, making a megaphone of her hands, 
trumpeted, “Don’t go too near the crashing surf.” 
Although her brother could not hear the words, he 
waved back to let them know that all was well with 
him, and when a seventh breaker which really was 
big, had started shoreward, he had flopped over on 
his back and floated on it. 

“What fun that must be,” Eleanor said. “I wish 
I dared do it.” 

“If I went with you as a sort of moral support, 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


101 


would you dare?” It was Jean Swiggett who asked 
the question. 

“Yes, indeed.” Eleanor replied brightly as she 
smiled up at him. Then she held out her hand and 
together they waded into the water. The others, 
watching the lad, thought how graceful he looked in 
his bathing suit. 

Meanwhile, the unconscious object of their ad¬ 
miration was wading deeper into the sea, holding the 
hand of his new acquaintance, Eleanor. 

“You can’t think,” he was saying, “what it means 
to me to know the niece of the best friend I ever had, 
or ever shall have, for that matter, for I never could 
find a better one.” 

Eleanor flashed a smile up at him. “I’m glad, too, 
for it means more to me than anyone can know to 
meet people who loved my dear Aunt Myra, although 
the strange part of it is that before I came here I 
knew nothing whatever about her except that I sup¬ 
posed her to be very eccentric.” 

“But she wasn’t,” the lad defended, “not at all. 
In fact, Miss Myra was the last person on earth one 
could call eccentric.” Then he suddenly cautioned, 
“Wach out! Here comes a seventh wave. Lie on 
your back and float. I’ll stay close enough to catch 


102 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


you if you are frightened. You won’t go down, I’ll 
promise you that.” 

The watchers on the shore saw Eleanor lying on 
her back, and Jean Swiggett, seeing that all was well 
with his comrade, did the same. 

Then the unusually large wave lifted its crest and 
they rode in on it. Leaping to her feet, Eleanor, 
with eyes shining, called: “I want to do that all over 
again.” 

Jean again held out his hand to her as he replied, 
“Allrighto! I’d like to.” 

However, this time they did not go at once out 
into the waves, but waded along in shallow water to¬ 
ward the Point-o’-Rocks. 

The lad, glancing at his companion, saw that she 
was deeply engrossed in thought, but she looked up 
suddenly with her brightest smile. 

“Jean,” she said, “would you mind climbing up on 
the rocks with me awhile in the sun. I’d like to 
warm up a bit, although my real reason for making 
the suggestion is that I want to talk with you alone, 
for a few moments.” 

Wondering what Miss Myra’s niece could wish to 
say, the lad, however, readily agreed to the sug¬ 
gestion and the watching young people soon saw 
Eleanor and Jean sitting on the broad overhanging 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


103 


rock that was sheltered from the wind and warmed 
by the sun. 

Well they knew what the conversation between 
these two was to be, and the girls could hardly wait 
to find out whether or no Jean would be able to give 
them another clue to the whereabouts of the mys¬ 
terious Hugh Ward. 


104: 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


CHAPTER XIII. 

A WIDE-AWAKE SIESTA. 

The young people who had been frolicking in 
the waters were ravenously hungry when they heard 
the get-ready-for-lunch bell. Then altogether they 
raced up from the bathing beach to the house, but, 
curious as the girls were to hear what Jean had told 
Eleanor when she had asked him if he knew Hugh 
Ward, an opportunity did not present itself until 
after the merry meal was finished. Then it was 
that Malcolm said that the girls could dispense with 
their fascinating company, the boys would like to go 
for a hike up the beach. 

The girls were always glad to rest for an hour 
after lunch, and so they bade the youths depart. 
“Don’t stay a moment longer than an hour,” Eleanor 
called after them, “for we want to hear all that Jean 
has to tell about the mountain trails and—and every¬ 
thing,” she ended. 

“We’ll be back on the stroke of two,” Peyton sang 
out. 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


105 


For a moment the girls stood on the veranda with 
arms about each other watching the four boys who 
went striding across the smooth lawn and under the 
wide-spreading live oaks on their way to the shore. 

“Now tell us,” Margaret pleaded. 

“Let’s go down and sit in the hammocks,” Eleanor 
suggested. “First, though, let’s go to our rooms 
for pillows and blankets so that we may have a real 
siesta.” 

Ten minutes later the girls were out under the 
trees, the two older ones in the hammocks that were 
swung close together, and the younger maids seated 
on blankets which had been spread on the leaf-soft 
ground. 

“Now do tell us,” Babs leaned forward eagerly as 
she asked the question. “What did you say and how 
did Jean reply?” 

Eleanor smiled down at the pretty upturned face 
as she said, “Well, I told Jean that I had always 
supposed my Aunt Myra to be very eccentric, and he 
said that, quite the contrary, she had always seemed 
to be the sanest, most level-headed sort of a person. 
In fact he declared that he had never heard of Aunt 
Myra’s doing the least thing that could be called 
queer. 

“Then I asked him if he had ever heard of the will 


10G 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


she had made. He looked up in surprise but replied 
that he had not. ‘I was away at school when Miss 
Pettes died/ he said. ‘My Dad wrote me that he 
understood that the estate had been left to relatives 
in the East, a nephew, he thought/ ” 

“I suppose they meant your father,” Margaret 
suggested. Eleanor nodded. “Probably,” she 
agreed. 

“Wasn't he surprised when you told him the truth 
about the will ?” Virginia inquired. 

“He was indeed,” was the reply. “I never saw a 
more puzzled expression on the face of any human 
being. ‘Why, Miss Eleanor,’ he exclaimed, ‘If any¬ 
one had told me that Miss Myra could have made so 
peculiar a will I would have declared it to have been 
utterly impossible/ Then he thoughtfully repeated 
the name, ‘Hugh Ward’, as though he were trying to 
remember if he had ever heard it before. At last he 
shook his head. ‘I haven’t even the faintest recollec¬ 
tion of ever having heard the name.’ Then his ex¬ 
pression brightened and turning toward me, he said, 
‘Miss Eleanor, you of course know that when your 
Aunt Myra was young she was engaged to marry, 
but that something happened to prevent. Have you 
thought that perhaps this Hugh Ward might have 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


107 


been the man to whom she was engaged and that she 
wished him to have half of her estate?' 

“I replied that we had thought of it; then I told 
him about the grave we had found in the little old 
cemetery, the letters ‘H. W.’ formed with small 
stones, and our subsequent visit to ‘The Home for 
the Aged and Infirm,' where we had learned that one 
Henk Walley was there buried. 

“ ‘Your aunt was nearly seventy years old/ Jean 
said, ‘and the man to whom she was engaged was 
probably older. I can understand your earnest desire 
to find him, since it was the wish of your aunt. I 
will gladly aid in the search in any way that I can/ ” 

Babs looked her disappointment. “We are still a 
million miles away from a solution to the mystery/' 
she said. 

“Here come the boys," Margaret sang out. “Is 
the hour up already?" 

“They are all talking at once and seem to be great¬ 
ly interested. I wonder what they are planning." 

“Hooray there! Are you girls all slept out ?" Peyton 
called as the four boys approached. 

“We haven’t slept a wink," Babs retorted. 

“What is a siesta for if it isn't for sleep?" the lad 
continued, pretending to be puzzled. “You see, it 
being of the gender feminine, I know little about it." 


108 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


“Indeed,” his sister teased. “It seems to me that 
you are well posted on some things feminine.” Then 
she added: “Pray tell why are your three friends 
whispering together like accomplices in some crime?” 

“We plead not guilty.” It was Malcolm who 
stepped forward. “We were just wondering if you 
young ladies would excuse us for the rest of the day 
as we wish to do a little mountain climbing, and—” 

But he said no more, for an expression of keen 
disappointment was plainly depicted on the face of 
feach fair maid. 

“Oh, brother, we girls are all good climbers, you 
know that we are, and it won’t take us long to put 
on our hiking outfits,” Virginia protested. 

Malcolm looked doubtfully up at Jean. “How 
long does it take to climb the trail to the haunted 
cabin?” he asked. 

When they heard the destination of the hike, the 
hearts of the girls beat double time. As though they 
would consent to remaining at home like pussycats 
when an adventure like this was on foot. 

Jean was looking at Eleanor and he replied slowly, 
“Well, there is an easier trail that the girls could 
climb, but that would take an hour longer. We 
could reach the cabin in two hours, I think, though, 
without hurrying.” 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


109 


“But it will be three before our fair friends can 
get rigged and it would be five by the time we 
reached our destination, and even if we turned right 
around and returned, it would be seven before we 
could get home again, and not one moment to rest 
or investigate. I say, Sis,” Peyton addressed Babs, 
“suppose you girls stay at home and—” 

It was Eleanor who interrupted him. “Oh, I have 
the most beautiful plan to suggest,” she said. “If 
Mrs. Treadwell thinks it is wise, we will do it.” 

“What is it? Do tell us!” came in eager chorus 
from the girls. 

“Well, you know there will be a full moon tonight, 
so you see, we can investigate as long as it is day and 
come home by the light of the moon.” Then turning 
to Jean she asked, “Can you stay that long?” 

“Oh, yes indeed,” that youth told her. “I am gone 
much of the time in summer, and, as my bedroom 
is in a small separate cabin, my father and mother 
never worry about my coming or going. They know 
that all is well with me wherever I am. 'A mountain 
deer could not be more at home on the trails about 
here than I am.” 

Mr9. Treadwell appeared in the doorway at that 
moment. Eleanor and Margaret slipped over to ask 
her advice. The good woman knowing that Jean 


110 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


Swiggett could be depended upon to guide them, 
readily gave her consent and went back indoors to 
pack the lunch. “I’ll put it up in eight small par¬ 
cels,” she told Eleanor, “and then you each can carry 
your own supper. ’Twill make it easier traveling 
than it would be if you were burdened with a 
hamper.” 

Five minutes later the girls were in their rooms 
putting on their hiking clothes. 

“Didn’t I tell you first thing this morning that 
something exciting was going to happen today, and 
I was just sure that it was to be more than a mere 
call from a neighbor, and now I’m doubly convinced 
of it. Just think of being in Pick Ax Alek’s lonely 
cabin by moonlight.” 

“Lost! L-o-s-t!” Megsy moaned, ending with a 
laugh. It was easier for Margaret to laugh now. 


— 



Margaret's heart rejoiced when Malcolm turned 
back at one especially steep place to aid her in 
climbing it. 

{Page m ) ( Virginia's Romance.) 






















*- ' 








* 
























VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


111 


CHAPTER XIV. 

A FIRST CLUE. 

Nowhere could there have been found a happier 
group of young people than the eight boys and girls 
who, just on the stroke of three, started to climb 
the trail back of Eleanor’s estate. They were soon 
up among jutting boulders and scraggly mountain 
growths. 

Margaret’s heart rejoiced when Malcolm turned 
back at one especially steep place to aid her in climb¬ 
ing it. 

Her grateful smile warmed the heart of the young 
giant. Was he imagining it, or had Margaret really 
seemed to welcome him more kindly during this day 
than on any previous? Little did he dream how the 
girl had longed to welcome him always, but that for 
his own sake she had been willing to give him up 
to someone whom she had supposed cared for him 
and with whom life would have been easier, but 
when she realized that Eleanor, did not care more 


112 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


for Malcolm than she did for the other boys, Mar¬ 
garet could not but rejoice. And now she believed 
that Malcolm cared for her. A few moments later 
she knew. 

The girls ahead were climbing over the rough 
places like mountain goats, and Megsy, forgetting 
that she had a weak ankle endeavored to do the 
same, although Malcolm would gladly have assisted 
her had she permitted him to do so, but when he 
asked her to hold fast to his arm, she shook her 
head, smiled over her shoulder and scrambled up 
alone. Had she not been looking back, it all might 
not have happened, but in that moment Margaret 
stepped on a rolling stone, her ankle turned, she was 
thrown and would have been hurled on the rocks 
had not Malcolm caught her. “Little ward-of- 
mine,” he asked anxiously as he noted her white 
face, “are you badly hurt? Is your ankle 
wrenched?” 

She shook her head and smiled up at him. Im¬ 
pulsively he stopped and again he kissed her on the 
forehead. “Little ward-of-mine,” he said tenderly, 
“I love you. Please let me take care of you, al¬ 
ways.” 

Luckily the ankle had not been really hurt and 
when these two caught up with the others, who, 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


113 


having- missed them were waiting on a small plateau 
before starting an even steeper ascent, Virginia 
glanced curiously at her adopted sister. There was 
an expression in the sweet face of the girl whom 
she loved that told of a new and radiant happiness. 
Going close to Virg Megsy slipped her hand in that 
of her dear sister-friend and smiled up at her with 
such a love-light shining in her eyes, that although 
no words were spoken then, Virginia felt sure that 
she knew the joyous secret and how glad she was! 

“Just ahead of us is the little old cemetery,” Jean 
was saying. “Now I’ll show you where Pick Ax 
Alek was digging that moonlight night when he 
heard a voice dolefully moaning: ‘Lost! Lost! 
L-o-s-t.’ ” 

Babs shuddered and the ever attentive Benjy 
asked: “Are you cold? Would you like to wear 
my coat? I don’t need it at all. Honest, I don’t.” 

The lassie smiled her gratitude. 

“No, thank you,” she said; “that wasn’t a chilly 
shudder. I was just thinking how uncanny it must 
be here by moonlight.” 

“Well, you’ll have an opportunity to shudder 
when we pass through here tonight,” Peyton called. 
“I say, Jean,” he trumpeted to their guide, “couldn’t 
we plan to be here at midnight when the graves 


114 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


yawn and old Henk Walley rises to go over to the 
poor farm to see if the rocking stone has fallen yet ?” 

‘‘Why, of course, we can stay until midnight if 
the girls wish,” Jean replied; knowing that Peyton 
made the suggestion merely to tease. But Babs pro¬ 
tested: “No, indeed; we won’t stay. I’ve no de¬ 
sire to make the acquaintance of the old gentleman, 
now that he probably is nothing but a skeleton.” 

“A cheerful conversation, I must say. Don’t you 
think so, Margie?” Benjy said, addressing the girl 
near him. She turned toward him with a start. 
“I didn’t hear the conversation,” she confessed. 

Benjy, who could not resist teasing, was about to 
say: “Not hear? Then you must be in love,” but 
before he could form the words, Jean in the lead 
called out: “Ladies and gentlemen, step right this 
way please.” Laughingly they all trooped forward. 

A crevice in the rocks plainly showed that it had 
been cracked by some instrument, and so Jean had 
no difficulty in convincing them that they were 
standing on the very spot where Alek had stood 
when he had heard the ghostly voice. 

It was mid-afternoon. The sun was shining so 
brightly on the little graveyard that it did not seem 
dismal nor spooky. However, as they approached 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


115 


the grave of Henk Walley, they looked at it with 
new interest. 

“Poor old man,” Virginia said as she stooped and 
laid a bunch of wild flowers close to the rude letters, 
“H. W.” “How I hope he is happy somewhere, 
and I am sure that he is. There must be a law that 
balances things. The old people who had no homes 
here surely have them there where loved ones are 
waiting.” 

“I doubt if you could keep Henk Walley away 
from the tipping stone,” Benjy said. “I believe 
that if you visited the Poor Farm at midnight you 
would see his white form seated on the bench where 
he used to sit watching the balancing rock, still wait¬ 
ing for it to fall.” 

“I wonder what startling thing is going to hap¬ 
pen when it does fall?” Babs said. 

Peyton laughed. “Why, Sis,” he remonstrated, 
“you spoke as though you really believe that super¬ 
stition. Of course nothing at all will happen if the 
rock does fall, and even that event is not likely to 
occur, since the rock has been tipping and yet keep¬ 
ing its balance year in and out.” 

The young people turned away from the little 
cemetery and Benjy sang out, “Where do we go 


116 VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 

from here, Jean? I can't see a cabin, haunted or 
otherwise." 

“It isn’t visible from this plateau," they were told. 
“We follow this well-beaten little path down into 
yonder wooded ravine. A desolately lonely place 
it is, but Dad says this prospector whom they called 
Pick Ax Alek seemed to believe that he was going 
to make a lucky strike in these mountains. He built 
his cabin in that hidden place as he wished other 
prospectors to pass without learning of his presence 
lest they, too, be tempted to stay and dig in this lo¬ 
cality. Alek rather felt that this mountain was his 
own by divine dispensation or something of the sort. 
The truth of the matter is that gold has never been 
found on it in paying quantities.” 

As they talked, the young people were following 
a trail which led down to a very steep cliff and then 
seemed to end abruptly, although far below, near a 
tumbling mountain stream and almost hidden among 
pines, they could plainly see a boarded-up log cabin. 

Babs shuddered as she held fast to Megsy. 

“Hum! This is queer," Peyton remarked. “The 
trail ends here at the top of the cliff, or so it would 
seem, and yet surely Mr. Pick Ax must have had 
some method of reaching his residence other than 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


117 


by standing here and leaping into the ravine. Jean, 
tell us the secret.” 

Jean smiled as he said, “See if you can’t study it 
out, old man.” 

The young people, who always enjoyed something 
mysterious, whatever its nature, began each in his 
own way to speculate about the matter. It was Babs 
who first uttered a cry of delight. “I have it!” she 
exclaimed, “I’m just ever so sure I have found it.” 
She had wandered away from the group, and there, 
making an almost straight descent down the side of 
the cliff, was undeniably a trail. Here and there a 
jutting rock served as a step. With great difficulty 
the young people descended. 

“Luckily, it will be easier to climb up again than 
it was to come down,” Megsy said, when at last 
they stood beneath the gnarled pine trees that sur¬ 
rounded the cabin. 

For an awed moment the young people gazed at 
the dwelling of Pick Ax Alek. Babs shuddered 
when a wandering breeze moaned in the pine trees. 
“I don’t wonder the poor man thought he heard 
ghostly voices, even if there were none at all,” she de¬ 
clared. “I’m sure if I spent even one night alone 
in this place I would be hearing all sorts of things.” 

The others agreed, for even the bravest among 


118 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


them averred that the log cabin was rather too lonely 
to invite habitation. “Unless one happened to be a 
hermit,” Virginia added, “and surely we are none 
of us so inclined.” 

They walked about the place, treading silently on 
the dry depth of pine needles. Jean and the other 
boys pulled at the boards covering the two small 
windows, but they were firmly secured from within, 
it would seem. 

“We will have to find a crowbar, I’m thinking,” 
Malcolm sang out when Babs, who, with Benjy, had 
been inspecting the windowless side of the house, re¬ 
turned with the information that they had dis¬ 
covered a sort of a cellar door which was not 
boarded. 

“Cellar to a log cabin? How queer!” Eleanor re¬ 
marked. “That’s unusual, isn’t it, Jean ?” 

The lad addressed shook his head, “Why, no,” he 
replied. “I think not. Many mountaineers dug 
cellars in which they might conceal whatever treasure 
they found, but they seldom had an outer door lead¬ 
ing to it.” 

“I don’t believe this door would have been 
noticed except that we were deliberately looking for 
an entrance.” Benjy said, and he was right, for when 
the others tried to find it a casual glance did not 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


119 


reveal its location, as a clump of small scraggly 
pines grew so close to the house that the branches 
flattened about the logs. These were held back by 
the two stronger and older boys while the younger 
lad crept into the small, dark opening which had 
been revealed. 

Babs almost held her breath. “Oh, Benjy,” she 
said, “is it wise for you to go alone into that dismal, 
dark hole?” Then as he was about to disappear the 
girl implored, “Jean, please don’t let him go.” 

The mountain lad started to make a laughing re¬ 
ply, when he paused, listened, then darted forward, 
and, seizing the legs of the disappearing lad, he 
dragged him back and stood him upon his feet. “That 
was a narrow escape, old man!” he ejaculated. 

“How? What happened?” the girls asked in 
unison. 

“Didn’t you hear the rattle ? Hark! There it is 
again. I suggest that we give this spot a wide berth. 
The place may be infested with snakes.’* 

“We haven’t tried the front door yet,” Malcolm 
said. To their surprise it swung so easily that 
Megsy whispered that someone on the inside must 
have opened it. 

“Wait till I scratch a match,” Jean said as he 
looked back at the young people, who were peering 


120 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


into the dark cabin. “I’ll open the wooden blinds. 
They usually are hooked on the inside and swing 
out. Righto!” he added after a moment’s in¬ 
vestigation. “It’s just as I thought. Now we’ll 
have a little more light on the subject.” 

“What a dismal room it is,” Margaret said as she 
stood close to Malcolm and smiled up at him. 

The few pieces of furniture which the prospector 
had fashioned for himself out of small trees with 
the bark left on, a half dozen cooking and eating 
utensils, a wooden bed made of soft pine branches, 
seemed to be all that the cabin contained. 

Eleanor was gazing at the table, on which re¬ 
mained a tin plate and cup rusted by the years that 
had elapsed since last they had been placed there. 

“The prospector must have left his cabin very 
hastily,” she remarked. 

“He did,” Jean replied. “Have you not heard 
the story, Eleanor? It was fifteen years ago that 
Pick Ax Alek was digging for gold one wild, windy 
midnight close to the little old cemetery at the very 
spot that I was showing you today. He was sud¬ 
denly startled by hearing behind the pines a most 
desolate cry, ‘Lost, Lost, L-o-s-t.’ Believing it to 
be the ghost of someone buried in the graveyard, 
he ran as fast as he could to his cabin, barred him- 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


121 


self in, but remained staring into the darkness until 
dawn. When the sun was high his courage re¬ 
turned and he revisited the cemetery to see if any 
of the graves had opened in the night. This, of 
course, had not happened and he was about to start 
his daily digging when he discovered, lying close to 
the pines, a gun of unusual design, and on the han¬ 
dle of which two letters were carved. 

“This gun he took to his cabin, standing it in the 
comer behind his bed. Then, after carefully fasten¬ 
ing his door and windows, he hastened to my 
father’s store to inquire if a stranger had been seen 
in these parts. 

“Several trappers and prospectors were there at 
the time and they laughed at his tale of the ghostly 
voice, but when he told about finding a gun of quaint 
design they were interested and curious, and bade 
him bring the weapon to my father’s store that eve¬ 
ning if he wished them to credit his tale. 

“Pick Ax Alek agreed to do this, but when he 
returned to his cabin, the moment he opened the 
door he realized that something had happened. 

“The gun was gone, although the cabin had not 
been entered by a mortal, as the door and windows 
had not been opened since he left. Terrorized in- 


122 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


(deed, Alek departed with all speed and has never 
since been seen.” 

“I wonder what did happen to the gun?” Vir¬ 
ginia remarked. “It certainly is strange if true.” 

Jean laughed. “Perhaps I ought not to confess 
it,” he said, “but I never believed the story.” 

Eleanor smiled at him as she suggested, “Per¬ 
haps Mr. Pick Ax wished to leave this part of the 
country and planned the tale to make his departure 
interesting and dramatic. Perhaps—” But she 
said no more, for Benjy, who had been examining 
the dark corners of the cabin with a lighted match, 
had uttered an excited cry. “There was a gun,” he 
exclaimed, “and here it is, partly fallen into the 
cellar through a crack between two logs.” 

Little did the young people guess the importance 
of this find, for the gun, though they did not know 
it, was their very first real clue. 

When Benjy exclaimed that he had found the 
gun, the young people crowded about him, but 
the flame on his last match flickered and had gone 
out and it was too dark in the cabin for them to 
see without a light. Luckily Jean discovered in his 
pocket a small metal safe in which were a few 
matches. One of these he ignited while Malcolm 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


123 


and Peyton stooped to draw the gun from the crack 
between the two logs through which it had fallen. 
That the dark cellar was directly beneath them was 
proven, for, when they attempted to withdraw the 
weapon, a warning rattle was heard. 

The frightened girls ran for the door, and wisely, 
for, as soon as the gun had been lifted from the 
crack, the head of a snake darted out at them. 

Without stopping to examine their find, the young 
people hastily climbed the rude steps that had been 
cut in the rocky cliff, and how relieved they were 
to discover that the sun was still shining although 
it was low in the West. However, the girls did not 
permit the boys to know how uncomfortable they 
had been in the dismal ravine and in the haunted 
cabin, for had they not insisted on being permitted 
to accompany their brothers and friends even when 
they had been advised to remain at home ? 

“Here’s a delightful place to eat our supper,” 
Megsy called. “See the darling, sparkly spring that 
comes from the rocks.” 

“Pine Needle Cafe, we will name it,” Virginia 
remarked; then she called, “Come on, boys. You 
can examine that gun when we reach home. It is 
almost dark now.” 


124 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


The lads were hungry enough to obey this sum¬ 
mons, although they laid the gun reluctantly on 
some nearby rocks and went to the spring to wash. 

Then they all sat on the ground that was soft 
with dry pine needles and each opened a small 
package of fried chicken and sandwiches. 

After half an hour of rest, Margaret sprang up, 
saying that if they started for home at once she be¬ 
lieved they would pass the little cemetery before the 
setting of the sun. 

“Indeed?” the youngest boy inquired, pretend¬ 
ing surprise. “I thought you girls particularly 
wished to visit the graveyard by moonlight.” 

“Benjy, what a tease you are!” Jean laughingly 
called as he leaped to his feet and, taking the hand 
of Eleanor, he helped her up the rough trail. 

The other lads offered the same assistance, each to 
the lassie he liked best, and when at last the sun had 
set in a flame of glory and the pale moon had swung 
into the sky, the young people were far down the 
mountain trail and nearing Mira Cielo, the estate 
owned by Eleanor and the mysterious Hugh Ward. 

The lassie smiled up at Jean, for they were still 
together, and the mountain lad thought that never 
before had he seen a girl so beautiful. 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


125 


“But I must not allow myself to really care for 
Miss Myra’s niece,” he thought, “for who am I? 
Only the son of a mountaineer. I will serve her, 
but I must not love her.” 


126 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


CHAPTER XV. 

THE MYSTERIOUS MESSAGE. 

Several days had passed since the finding of the 
gun. Jean had asked permission to take it home 
with him to show to his father, the store-keeper, who 
had heard the tale fifteen years before when Pick Ax 
Alek had declared that a voice in the darkness had 
called, “Lost! Lost! L-o-s-t!” 

Mr. Swiggett had believed the story to be imag¬ 
inative and his theory he had imparted to Jean. 
The mountain lad was eager to show the gun to his 
father, as he was now convinced, that the tale must 
have contained some element of truth. The young 
people had pleasantly passed the intervening time 
w r ith swimming and hiking, although on these latter 
excursions the boys often went alone, for the girls 
declared that their visit to the haunted cabin had 
satisfied their curiosity and that they would rather 
lie under the live oak trees reading or just visiting 
during the warm hours of the day than to join the 
boys in their more strenuous occupations. 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


127 


It was mid-afternoon on a glorious day in the week 
following their finding of the gun. The three lads 
had departed on horseback and the girls, as usual, 
were sauntering toward the live oak trees for their 
afternoon siesta. Megsy seated herself in a ham¬ 
mock that was gently rocked by the cool sea breeze, 
and then she exclaimed invitingly, “Virg, dear, 
won't you come and sit by me? I’ve something to 
tell you.” 

“Oh, that isn’t fair,” Babs protested as she sunk 
down on the ground tailorwise. “If you tell Virg 
you must also tell me.” 

Eleanor smiled lovingly down at the first speaker. 
“Dear girl,” she said, “you do not need to tell any 
of us. We all know and we are so happy for you 
and with you.” 

Margaret lifted a radiant face to these, her dearest 
friends. Then to their surprise they saw tears slow¬ 
ly gather in her eyes, and her lips quivered. “I am 
happy,” she said, “wonderfully happy, but I long so 
for my mother, more than I have in years. I keep 
wanting to go to her and tell her about Malcolm. 
How glad she will be to know that her little daughter 
is to have so wonderful a giant to protect her and 
love her.” 

Then smiling brightly around at her friends, she 


128 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


added in a more sprightly manner, “Now, harken 
and you shall hear the secret. Malcolm wants to be 
married right away. That is very soon. Virg, what 
do you think I ought to say?” 

The girl addressed held the hand of her adopted 
sister in a warm clasp as she replied, “Megsy, dear, 
although I am glad for your happiness, far more do 
I rejoice that this beautiful love has come into the 
life of my brother, for he has had so little that other 
boys have to make him happy. 

“Since our father died, Malcolm has carried bur¬ 
dens that have made him serious beyond his years, 
but this last week the mantle of care seems to have 
slipped from his shoulders. Happiness has restored 
to him his lost boyhood. I do indeed hope that you 
will consent to be married whenever Malcolm 
wishes.” 

Then, for a time, the girls were silent, lying at rest 
in the cool shade of the trees, each thinking her own 
happy thoughts. It was half an hour later when 
Eleanor said, “It seems strange, doesn’t it, that Jean 
Swiggett has not been over again to see us? Five 
days have passed and I thought, by the way he spoke, 
that he expected to return the next morning to tell 
us what his father had to say about the gun. Jean 
thought he might recognize it as having belonged 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


129 


to one of the prospectors living here at the time it 
was found.” 

“Girls,” Dabs said, “I have a confession to make. 
Benjy confided that the boys were truly worried by 
Jean’s continued absence and that they were going 
to Torrence to inquire why he had not kept his 
promise to return the next day.” 

Virg, who had risen, was looking toward the gate. 
“If I am not mistaken, the boys are coming,” she 
said. “There are four horsemen, so perhaps Jean is 
with them.” 

“Oh, good! How I do hope it is Jean,” their hos¬ 
tess said with a sudden glow in her beautiful eyes. 

Together they hurried across the lawn and toward 
the drive, eager to greet the newcomers and hear 
what they had to tell. 

The boys on horseback leaped to the ground and 
hurried forward. Malcolm went at once to Mar¬ 
garet and held out both hands. The sweet eyes that 
were lifted to look at the bronzed face held a wel¬ 
come that rejoiced the heart of the young giant. He 
longed to take Megsy in his arms and tell her that 
the five hours he had been away from her had seemed 
unending, although they had been brimming with 
events of interest. 

“What has happened?” Eleanor asked, as she 


130 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


looked curiously from one to another of the boys, for 
on the face of each was an expression telling of a 
<vital interest in something. 

“Goodness me,” she added, when no one replied, 
“I do believe that you have located our old gentle¬ 
man, Hugh Ward. Jean, tell me, have you?” 

The lad addressed shook his head. “No, Eleanor,” 
fie replied, “I'll have to confess that we’ve been fol¬ 
lowing an entirely different kind of a trail. Can’t 
we sit down somewhere? I have a story to tell you 
girls and I’m so brimming with it I just can’t keep 
it another moment, nor, for that matter, can my 
confederates.” 

“Oh, good! I’m so glad you have a story to tell 
us,” Babs bubbled in little girl fashion, but Eleanor, 
glancing at the flushed face and glowing eyes of her 
mountain friend, felt sure that she was to hear some¬ 
thing of a very startling nature, and yet he had said 
that it in no way pertained to the matter of greatest 
interest to her, the finding of Hugh Ward. But 
then, she must not be selfish, she rebuked herself, and 
must consider the interests of her friends as well as 
those of her own. 

“Let’s go to the Siesta Nook under the oaks,” 
Margaret suggested. Hand in hand, she and Mal¬ 
colm led the way. 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 131 < 

There were several hammocks under the spreading 
trees swung close together. The girls occupied these 
while the boys threw themselves upon the ground. 
The very atmosphere seemed to be electric with ex¬ 
citement and suspense. All eyes were turnd toward 
Jean, and Eleanor found herself wondering how so 
rough and uncouth a mountaineer as Mr. Swiggett 
could have a son so lithe and graceful in every 
movement, so courteous in manner and with features 
that were so finely chiseled. 

She was suddenly awakened from her reverie by 
the realization that the youth about whom she was 
thinking had started his story. 

“When I reached home with the gun,” Jean was 
saying, “father was in the store closing up for the 
night. I did not show our find to him at once, but 
when his back was turned I stood the gun against 
the wall well concealed behind a barrel. 

“ 'Dad/ I said, ‘are you in a hurry to go to bed ? 

“ ‘Not a bit of it, son,’ was his reply. Td like to 
loaf around awhile, but nobody dropped in and so 
I was thinkin’ I might as well hit the hay.’ Then he 
seemed to notice that I was unusually interested in 
something and so he sat down in his big arm chair 
there by the old stove and he said, ‘Well, son, out 
with it before you bust.’ 


132 VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 

“I sat up on the counter and inquired : ‘Dad, do 
you remember the ghost story that was told by Pick 
Ax Alek ?' He looked at me curiously. 

“ ‘Sure. I remember the yarn all right/ he replied. 
‘I always suspected he had gone plumb cracked, for, 
of course, he never did hear anything. Thar weren't 
any stranger around at the time; that is—’ Then Dad 
stopped short as though he were thinking of some¬ 
thing in a new light. ‘By crickets/ he ejaculated, ‘I 
never thought of it until this minute, but jest as 
sure as Torrence is Torrence, thar must have been 
a stranger around. Somehow I never put two and 
two together before. But what's set you to thinkin' 
of the yam, son ? You was too little then to remem¬ 
ber anything about it yourself/ 

“Then I told Dad that, having heard the tale from 
old Mr. Howitt, you all had been eager to visit the 
haunted cabin, and perhaps find the gun. 

“ ‘Gun nothin'!' Dad scoffed. ‘That part of the 
yarn was straight lying to put it plain.' 

“I sprang to my feet. ‘Dad,' I said, ‘there was a 
gun and today we found it.' 

“When I said that we had found the gun, Dad was 
on his feet almost as 90on as I. Producing the 
weapon from its hiding place, I handed it to him. 

“Now, as you know, Dad was called ‘Bandit 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


133 


Proof’ when he was young, because of his fearless¬ 
ness in the face of danger, and it was natural per¬ 
haps that a man of his type should scoff at what he 
believed to be an imaginary ghost story, but when 
he held the actual gun in his hands he could hardly 
accept the evidence of his eyes. 

“ ‘Son/ he said, ‘this here weapon can’t have be¬ 
longed to whoever ’twas wailed “Lost! Lost! 
L-o-s-t !” 9 

“I told him we couldn’t prove that, but I reminded 
him that Pick Ax Alek had referred to two letters 
carved on the wooden handle. 

“Dad carried the weapon to the brighest lamp in 
the store and examined it closely. I could see that 
he was becoming greatly agitated about something, 
far more so than the discovery of the gun seemed to 
warrant. Before I could ask him what he was 
examining so closely he looked up and said in a 
voice that actually trembled: ‘Son, call your mother/ 
but before I had reached the door he added, ‘No, No, 
we won’t tell her tonight. More’n likely she’s asleep. 
No need for her to know until morninV As he spoke 
he took out his big handkerchief and wiped his fore¬ 
head. Again he looked intently at the handle of the 
gun and seemed to have forgotten my presence. I 
moved, and looking up with an expression of un- 


134 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


usual tenderness, he said: ‘Go to bed, Jean. It’s 
powerful late.’ I had never seen my Dad so upset 
before, not even when a gambler was shot right there 
in our store. I paused and turned back when I 
reached the door. I wondered if I ought to say any¬ 
thing, but Dad had sunk down into his arm-chair, his 
face in his hands. I went out to my tent house al¬ 
most wishing that we had not found the gun. Why 
it should so affect my Dad I could no conceive, but it 
was quite evident that it had recalled to him un¬ 
happy memories. 

“You may be sure I did little sleeping that night 
and I am convinced that Dad slept not at all, for 
when I went into the store the next morning very 
early, expecting to open it up, as I always did when 
I am at home, that Mother and Dad might have an 
extra hour of sleep, there he was examining the gun 
in the full light of the sun. 

“He looked up when I entered and it seemed to 
me that he had aged overnight. Then he did a queer 
thing. Placing the gun on the counter, he came 
toward me and held out his hand. ‘Jean/ he said, 
and his voice shook, ‘we’ve done the best we could 
for ye, haven’t we, the best we knew how/ 

“Much mystified, I replied that never could a 
chap have had a more devoted mother and father 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 139 

and I placed my arm over his shoulder and led him 
to his chair, for, he seemed suddenly enfeebled. 

“ ‘Jean/ he said as he glanced at the closed door, 
beyond which my mother was preparing breakfast, 
Tve changed my mind about tellin’ her. Maybe 
nothin’ will come of all this, and if it does, then’s 
time enough to tell her/ 

“Then he added more briskly, ‘First off I want 
you to go to the city today and take this gun to the 
address that’s been burnt on the handle with some 
red hot point, like as not ’twas a nail. You young 
folks didn’t notice it, I suppose.’ 

“I replied that we had not really examined the 
gun, as it was late when we had returned from the 
cabin. 

“Burnt in the wood I found the words, ‘Return 
to 2100 Downing Street,’ and the name of our near¬ 
est big city. 

“Never before in my twenty years have I ex¬ 
perienced a sensation like the one that surged 
through my being at that moment. It was mingled 
excitement, suspense and a conviction that some¬ 
thing most unexpected and unusual was about to 
occur. Nor was I mistaken. 

“ ‘What do you make of it, Dad ?’ I asked. 

“ ‘Wall, about like this,’ he replied, ‘When the 


136 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


man as owned this here weapon thought it was all 
up with him, he made out to burn that message into 
the handle of the gun. Leastways so it seems to 
me/ 

" 'No need to tell your mother you’re going to the 
city/ Dad cautioned as we went in to breakfast. 
Luckily mother was much occupied that morning 
with some household interest and she did not even 
notice Dad’s very evident excitement. Directly after 
the meal, I went to my tent house, changed my 
dothes, and, taking the gun, I followed a short cut 
trail to the junction where a passenger train stops to 
take on an added engine before starting the upgrade 
in the mountains. 

“I reached the city and with great curiosity I di¬ 
rected the driver of a cab to convey me to the ad¬ 
dress burnt on the handle of the gun. 

"When I reached the house I found it to be a 
handsome brown stone mansion set in a small gar¬ 
den shut away from the street by a high ivy-covered 
wall. 

"It was in a fashionable part of town and many 
more fine houses similar to this were its neighbors 
on both sides of the wide avenue. 

"Number 2100 had the appearance of being unoc- 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


137 


cupied, as the blinds on the windows were closed and 
the hinges on which they hung were rusted. 

“I saw a small wooden gate in the wall standing 
ajar and so I entered the yard and was glad to see 
that the basement of the house gave evidence of oc¬ 
cupancy. In fact there were muslin curtains flutter¬ 
ing at the open windows, red geraniums blossoming 
in the neat green boxes and a pleasant odor of baking 
wafted to me from the open back door. 

“I rapped twice before anyone heard, and then a 
little old lady came from somewhere to answer my 
summons. She was dressed in a lavender print gown 
with a white cap and shawl, and although I was a 
stranger, her kindly face beamed a welcome. 

“ ‘Well, well laddie,* she said, ‘where are you going 
with your gun? But come right in where its cool. 
The court-yard pavement gets pretty hot by noon 
these August days.’ 

“I went into the cheerful living room and my 
hostess, after bidding me take a chair while she 
looked into the oven, left me, but soon returned car¬ 
rying a plate heaped with cookies fresh from the 
baking. 

“ ‘You look wearyish,’ she said kindly. ‘Don’t 
talk till you’ve had a bit of refreshment. Here’s a 
jug of buttermilk that’s been settin’ on the ice.’ Then, 


138 


VIRGINIA'S ROMANCE 


[while I was being made comfortable, the little old 
lady added: ‘My young son will be in directly and 
you can tell him what your message is, for I suppose 
you have come for that purpose.' 

“I assured her that I had and was just wondering 
who her young son might be, when a man, of per¬ 
haps sixty, entered the room. He had the same 
kindly expression as his mother and I noted a twinkle 
in her eyes as she said: ‘Stranger, this is my young 
son.' 

“The man offered his hand, but, before I could 
grasp it, he noticed the gun, and, with an exclama¬ 
tion of amazed surprise, he left my outstretched hand 
untouched and took the weapon from me. Then, 
turning to his mother, he said in a tone of suppressed 
excitement: *A message from the master. After all 
these years, he has sent his gun back to us.' 

“I had expected something unusual and dramatic 
to happen but was unprepared for the intense feeling 
which the appearance of the unique weapon had 
aroused in these two old people. I was sure, and 
correctly so, that I would soon learn the meaning of 
it all, and the story they told me, I will tell to you.” 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


139 


CHAPTER XVI. 

JEAN CALLS AT 2100 DOWNING STREET. 

“‘Where is he, the master?’ the old lady’s son 
inquired. ‘And where is Little Pigeon?’ 

“I shook my head, looking from one to the other 
with an expression so blank that they realized that 
I was speaking the truth when I said that I did not 
know. The eager hope that had been in their eyes 
faded. The man sank into the nearest chair and 
the dear old lady placed her hand comfortingly on 
his bent head. ‘Don’t take it so hard, Myric, my 
son. I’ve told you all along that they must have 
been lost in the mountains whither they went fifteen 
years ago. If Master were alive, nothing could 
have kept him from coming to us/ Then turning 
to me she said: ‘Now tell us your story. Why did 
you bring the gun ?’ 

“She seated herself and folded her hands quietly 
in her lap. The man continued to sit in an attitude 
of despair, but, as I told the story which had been 


140 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


related by Pick Ax Alek, he looked up and listened 
with increasing interest. For a time it seemed as 
though the tale offered some ray of hope to his 
heart. ‘It must have been the master who called 
“Lost, lost, lost ! ,y he repeated. ‘But who had been 
lost?’ He turned a look of inquiry toward his 
mother/ 

“ ‘Little Pigeon/ she said. ‘He must have been 
lost/ Then to me: ‘ Twas a dark night, you say?’ 

“I nodded. ‘Father said that one of the wildest 
storms that had ever visited the mountains came 
toward morning. Strangers could easily be lost, 
for there is many a sheer cliff and unexpected 
ravine/ 

“The man turned toward the old lady with an ex¬ 
pression of utter hopelessness, ‘Mother/ he said, 
‘this gun is all that is left. They are gone, the 
Master and Little Pigeon/ Then to me: ‘May we 
keep the gun?' 

“ T suppose so/ I replied. ‘Dad did not tell me 
what to do with it/ Indeed, his only instructions 
were for me to take it to the address burned on the 
wooden handle. Then rising, I held out my hand 
to the little old lady and said: ‘Had I known that 
my visit would bring to you so much sorrow, I 
would not have come/ 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


141 


“She smiled feebly, though there were tears on 
her cheeks. ‘We would rather know/ she said, 
‘though 'twill be lonelier now. For fifteen years my 
son and I have sat here evenings listening for a foot¬ 
step, hoping every rap on the door might mean that 
Master and Little Pigeon had come home, but now 
we won’t listen any more, for we know they won’t 
be cornin’.’ 

“Then she glanced at a painting hanging on the 
wall. In it a flaxen-haired boy was merrily riding 
a hobby horse. 

“ ‘Little Pigeon’s mother died soon after that was 
painted,’ the old lady said, ‘and his father was tak¬ 
ing him to some dear friend who lived in the moun¬ 
tain country, where he wanted the child brought up. 
He never told us the name of this friend nor the 
place to which he was going, and so we did not 
know where to search when he did not return. The 
story of his being missing was in the papers for 
weeks, but nothing came of it.’ 

“I left the old couple, promising to return at once 
if I ever had another clue concerning the fate of the 
two whom they called Master and Little Pigeon.” 

The lad paused in his tale. 

“Is that all, Jean?” It was Eleanor who asked 
the question. 


142 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


“I am not sure that it is,” the lad replied. “When 
I returned I told Dad all that had happened and he 
acted very strangely. If I did not know my Dad to 
be the most honest of men, I might think that he 
knew more about the disappearance of these two 
than he confesses.” 

Then leaping to his feet, Jean exclaimed: “I must 
be going. I have remained now longer than I 
planned.” The others rose. 

The mountain lad, holding out his hand to the 
hostess, said: “Eleanor, there’s another piece of 
news which has caused much excitement, especially 
at the poor farm.” 

“What?” Babs exclaimed, springing forward 
with eager interest. “Jean, has the tipping rock 
fallen?” 

The lad nodded. “Yes, it crashed down yester¬ 
day morning at the very hour that I reached the 
boarded-up house in the city. There is great ex¬ 
citement among the old people, who recall Henk 
Walley’s prophecy, ‘When that thar stone falls 
somethin’s going to happen that’ll be put in every 
newspaper in the country.’ Well, the rock has fallen 
and nothing unusual has happened. Goodbye, 
everybody.” From the back of his restive horse 
Jean waved his cap and was gone. 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


143 


But something very unusual had happened; the 
nature of which the young people did not dream. 

“Well, what do you make of it all?” Babs gasped 
turning toward the others when Jean had ridden 
away. “The gun of the ghost story identified, a 
man and child having really been lost in the moun¬ 
tains, and now the rock that has balanced for years 
and years, for no apparent reason, has fallen.” 

“I wonder what caused it to fall,” Peyton said. 
“There hasn’t been a storm, indeed scarcely a 
breeze.” 

Eleanor shuddered. “Strange things surely are 
happening,” she said, “and yet, they relate not at 
all to Hugh Ward whom we are seeking.” 

Malcolm looked at her intently, thoughtfully. 
“You may be wrong, Eleanor,” he said. 

The housekeeper was hurrying toward them 
from the direction of the lodge where lived her 
elderly parents. The girls could tell by her expres¬ 
sion that she had something unusual to say, nor 
were they mistaken. “Miss Eleanor,” she began, 
“when you first came I told you that my mother’s 
mind was rambling most of the time, but that now 
and then there comes a spell when she talks ration¬ 
ally and remembers the past. I have been hoping 
that one of these lucid intervals would occur, for I 


144: 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


wished to tell Mother that the niece of her beloved 
Miss Myra had come to the old place to make it her 
home, but I had about given up hope. You can 
imagine how pleased I was this morning when I 
went, as usual to the lodge house, to have my 
mother look up with recognition in her eyes when 
I entered. She had been gazing out of the window 
and she asked: ‘Daughter, who are those young 
people out on the lawn?’ 

“Then I told her all that happened. How her 
dear old face brightened. T want to see Miss 
Myra’s niece/ she said eagerly. ‘Bring her to me 
now, quickly, daughter, before the darkness comes 
again.’ ” 

Eleanor was greatly touched but she felt a little 
timid about going to the lodge house until Mrs. 
Treadwell assured her that she would remain in the 
next room. “There is nothing to fear,” the house¬ 
keeper said, “for evert if Mother’s memory should 
go suddenly, she would merely lapse into silence and 
sink back into inactivity.” 

And so it was that Eleanor left the group of 
friends and went with Mrs. Treadwell to the lodge 
near the gates that was sheltered by wide-spreading 
trees. 

The other young people walked slowly back to 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


145 


the hammocks under the live oaks, to await the re¬ 
turn of their hostess. It was an hour later that they 
saw her appearing alone in the garden, and as she 
neared, they could tell by her glowing face that 
she had heard another clue to the mystery she was 
trying to solve. 

Virginia sprang up and led the newcomer to a 
hammock. “Begin at the very beginning,” Babs 
urged. 

Eleanor was greatly excited about something, but 
she did as she had been requested. “Mrs. Howitt is 
very, very old,” she began, “like a withered-up 
apple. ‘The saints be praised,’ she said when she saw 
me. 4 ’Twas good of them to let me live to see Miss 
Myra’s niece.’ I took the frail, wrinkled hand she 
held out and sat beside her. She looked at me so 
long and so dreamily that I feared her memory was 
gone, but it had not. ‘Poor Miss Myra,’ she said at 
last with infinite tenderness in her tone. ‘How she 
did love Hugh Ward and he, as fine a young man 
as ever stepped in shoe leather, that handsome and 
upstanding. He came here from the city, one win¬ 
ter after a spell of illness, and with a guide, took to 
living in a cabin in the mountains. Miss Myra was 
a young girl then, dearie, about your age, when she 
met Hugh Ward. Many a long hour they spent in 


146 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


the library, up at the big house reading aloud to 
each other, and then, with my husband, as groom, 
they went horseback riding. ’Twas plain to see that 
they loved each other from the very start. Miss 
Myra didn’t have a mother or father, so my man 
and I felt sort of responsible, and no one could have 
been more pleased than we were when she told us 
that she and Hugh were to be married in the spring. 
But somethin’ happened, as I guess you know. Any¬ 
how, what ’twas I’ll tell you.’ ” 

“What had happened?” Virginia asked when 
Eleanor paused in her tale. “Poor Aunt Myra,” 
was the reply. “Soon after their engagement Hugh 
Ward, well and strong again, returned to the city. 
‘He was eager to resume his father’s business as 
he was planning to marry,’ Mrs. Howitt said. 
‘Your Aunt Myra was as happy as a lark day after 
day and in April a woman came from the city to 
help with the sewing. Miss Myra hadn’t known 
her before but she’d heard that her specialty was 
making beautiful trousseaus. 

“ ‘The sewin’ was done in the big front room up¬ 
stairs and every evening I slipped in to see the pretty 
things. Sometimes Miss Myra would try them on 
to show me how nice she was goin’ to look in her 
new dresses, but one day the dressmaker told her 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


147 


somethin* that took all the joy out of life for the 
bride that was to be. I didn’t know what it was at 
the time. Hugh Ward came lookin’ so handsome 
and eager, but Miss Myra met him coolly and he went 
away, with his head bowed as though he’d never be 
able to look up again.’ 

“ ‘ ’Twasn’t anything dishonorable he’d done. 
Seems that his father and mother had set their hearts 
on his marryin’ a fashionable society girl and he had 
drifted into a sort of family-made engagement with 
her, but he hadn’t cared for anyone really until he 
met Miss Myra. He told the other girl the truth at 
once but she wouldn’t release him. Hugh begged 
Miss Myra to marry him because she was the one 
he really loved, but she would not. She locked the 
front room upstairs where her bridal dresses were 
and gave me the key.’ 

“ This Hugh Ward,’ I asked, ‘where does he live?’ 
I received no answer. The old lady had suddenly 
fallen back in her chair and the eyes that she turned 
toward me had an expression of unseeing blankness. 
Mrs. Treadwell told me not to be alarmed and then 
I came away. Now, what do you all think about it?” 

“I think something startling is going to happen,” 
Babs said, “because Henk Walley’s tipping rock has 
fallen.” 


148 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


No one smiled, no one called Babs foolishly super¬ 
stitious, for all felt that they were actors in a drama 
that was nearing some unexpected climax, nor were 
they mistaken. 


VIRGINIAN ROMANCE 


149 


CHAPTER XVII. 

SURPRISING BABS. 

Several days passed, and, although the young 
people eagerly watched and waited, Jean did not 
come again as he had said that he might, nor did 
Mrs. Howitt’s memory return as Eleanor had so 
hoped that it would. There was an atmosphere of 
suspense pervading the place which made the young 
people feel more than ever as though they were 
actors in a drama. “I only hope it isn't a tragedy," 
Babs confided to Megsy one morning when they 
were alone in their room, but the maiden whom she 
addressed was so happy in her own great joy that 
she did not feel as engrossed in the mystery sur¬ 
rounding them as did the others. 

“Oh Babsie, dear, how can you even think of 
that?" Margaret kissed her friend and gave her a 
happy little hug. “Do you know how I feel about 
it?" 

Babs shook her head. “How ?" she asked. 


150 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


“I believe that instead of a tragedy, all this mys¬ 
tery is to end in wonderful happiness, in a wedding 
maybe.” 

But Babs was not convinced. “A wedding! Why, 
Megsy, what an outlandish suggestion when this 
Hugh Ward who is to be part owner, or rather is 
part owner, was engaged to Eleanor’s Aunt Myra 
nearly a hundred years ago. Who, pray, would he 
marry now? He probably goes around bent way 
over and leaning on canes. Of course he had to 
marry that proud girl who wouldn’t release him and 
equally, of course, he was always just as lonely for 
poor Miss Myra as she was for him.” 

“It’s a very sad story,” Margaret agreed. “Babs, 
I just couldn’t do that, could you?” Then, noting the 
expression of inquiry in her friend’s eyes, she con¬ 
tinued, “I mean, I couldn’t force a man to marry me 
if he preferred someone else; could you ?” 

“Me? I should say not, but I haven’t the vaguest 
idea that I shall ever marry anyone. I shall always 
stay with my brother, Peyton, and keep house for 
him.” 

Margaret turned the pretty little girl away from 
the mirror into which she had been gazing, not with¬ 
out an expression of admiration for the attractive 
reflection she saw there. “Barbara,” the voice speak- 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


151 


ing was unusually serious, “would it sadden you to 
have your brother, Peyton, care for someone, Oh, 
just ever so much, enough to ask her to share his 
home and yours ?” 

“Why, Margaret Selover!” The replying voice 
was indignant. “You don’t think for one moment 
that my brother would bring some unknown girl into 
my home to be mistress over me! Of course, I 
wouldn’t like it. Would you under the same cir¬ 
cumstances?” 

“No-o,” Megsy was obliged to confess, “I 
wouldn’t; that is, not unless, when I became well ac¬ 
quainted with the girl, I learned to love her. But 
the one about whom I am speaking is not a stranger. 
She is someone whom you know and already love. 
She is a wonderful sister for anyone to have. Don’t 
you know whom I mean ?” 

Barbara’s gaze was through the open window and 
out toward the mountains in the distance. “I used 
to think,” she began slowly, “that my brother cared 
for Virginia Davis, but that was long ago when I 
first came to the desert. But, afterwards, when I 
noticed how indifferent Virg seemed to be, I decided 
that what I had thought was love in the heart of my 
brother had merely been gratitude, for Virginia had 
been very kind to him in those unhappy days when 


152 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


he was called an outlaw. I don’t like to speak of 
them, or to even remember them”—tears were slow¬ 
ly gathering in the sweet blue eyes—“it was such a 
nightmare for me too, those long months that 
dragged into years when my brother was lost to us 
because father had been too severe. And they were 
cruelly hard for him too. He wandered from one 
place to another, never really doing wrong (he 
couldn’t do that), but you know how he was accused 
of something done by another just because he had 
been a bystander and how lonely and sad he was 
when you and Virginia found him. Then I came.” 
Whirling again toward her friend, her pretty face 
aglow with remembered happiness, she said earnest¬ 
ly, eagerly: “Oh, how glad I shall be if that dear, 
kind, wonderful Virginia can love my brother 
enough to marry him. But, tell me, Margaret, what 
do you know about all this ? Why have you mentioned 
it? Do they care for each other?” 

“Let us sit here on this beautiful old lounge, dear. 
I just adore this ancient furniture, don’t you? It 
is not foreign in appearance like that in your Three 
Cross Ranch house, but just the kind that we all 
have seen in the homes of America’s grandparents.” 
Margaret led her almost dazed friend to a haircloth 
lounge, and, after they had seated themselves, she 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


153 


turned and took both hands of the girl who was 
watching her questioningly, wondering what she was 
to hear. “It was Malcolm who asked me to tell you, 
if you will for a time keep his request a secret.” 

“Of course I will.” Babs was more than ever 
puzzled. Why should the request come from Mal¬ 
colm, she wondered. But she was not long kept 
in suspense. 

“You see, dear, it is this way. Peyton has loved 
Virginia, it seems, ever since that long ago day when 
she and I went to the cabin on Second Peak to watch 
the mine all through one terrible never-to-be-for¬ 
gotten night. That is, it will never be forgotten by 
me, for I had every kind of a chilly shiver between 
daylight and dark that a girl can experience, and not 
without reason, some of them at least. Then your 
brother came and saved us from a real bandit, you 
recall, and then Virginia’s brother, out of gratitude, 
gave him a home at V. M. and occupation as long as 
he cared to remain. Peyton, who was called Trusty 
Tom then, was desperately lonely for the sister, of 
whom he never spoke, and Virginia’s sister-like kind¬ 
ness won first his grateful devotion and then his deep 
unwavering love. That is the right word, dear, for 
nearly two years have passed since that night on 
Second Peak and Peyton has had but one desire, and 


154 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


that to be worthy of winning Virginia’s love. Of 
course, I did suspect it now and then, but Virg has 
told me nothing. However, when we were at Three 
Cross Ranch, don’t you recall that they went out to 
look at the moon one evening, the last of our visit, 
and they climbed up on that great boulder just be¬ 
yond the ranch house and sat there for a long quiet 
visit. You and I and the others were seated on the 
veranda and we could see them silouetted against 
the silvery sky and someone wondered what they 
could find to talk about for so long. Well, yester¬ 
day Peyton told Malcolm and asked him if he were 
willing that Virginia should become Mrs. Wente; 
that is, if in time she should decide that she cared 
enough. Malcolm was not only willing but he was 
overjoyed, for he greatly admires your brother. 
Then Peyton told him one more thing and it was 
this: He did not know how soon he and Virginia 
could marry even if she cared for him, as he did 
not want to feel that you were being crowded out 
oil your own home. Peyton said that perhaps he ought 
not to marry until after you do, and since you are 
so young, that might be a long wait. I told Mal¬ 
colm that I was sure you would be delighted to 
share your home with our Virginia and that at least 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


155 


I was going to talk to you about it and let you think 
it over and decide for yourself.” 

The face of the little listener was flushed and her 
eyes glowed. Springing up she cried: “I don’t 
need to think it over, not for one tiny moment. 
Why, I should be the happiest girl in all of Arizona, 
or anywhere, if Virginia would come and live with 
me. You are the one to be pitied, not me, for you 
will have to lose her. I’m going to find her this 
very second and tell her that I’m wild with joy and 
wish she’d marrry my brother tomorrow.” The 
young girl was actually darting toward the closed 
door as though with the intention of putting her 
words into fulfilment, but Margaret leaped after her 
and catching her arm detained her. 

“Babsie,” she said in a low voice, for the door 
had already been opened by the eager girl, ‘‘don’t 
you know that if you did that it would probably 
spoil everything?” She was closing the door as she 
spoke and again she drew the little maid within and 
took her to a far corner where she was sure their 
conversation could not be overheard. “You see, 
dear,” she said by way of explanation, “Virginia 
told your brother on that moonlight night that he 
must not again speak to her of his love until she was 
eighteen. Of course she will soon be that and Pey- 


156 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


ton, who has been trying to obey, is growing very 
restless and eager to know his fate, as the story¬ 
books say, but, too, he wanted to consider your 
wishes also. Now my plan is this: I will tell Mal¬ 
colm what you have said; he will tell Peyton, and 
then, if Virginia does care for him, we will all be 
brothers and sisters together. Won’t we make the 
happiest kind of a family?” 

Barbara was clapping her hands after the fashion 
of the little girl that she really was. 4 < Why, 
Megsy,” she was hugging her friend ecstatically, 
“I had never even thought that you, too, will be my 
sister. I’ll leave off the ‘in-law’ part, that sounds 
too cold and formal. I’ll have two sisters and a 
new brother. Now I’m going to make a confession. 
I’ve been desperately lonesome just thinking about 
living alone, I mean without any of you girls at 
Three Cross Ranch. It was such a dismal, spooky 
place with all of that heavy old furniture in it and 
even now, when I have it modernized, the rooms 
are so large and I am so little and brother is away 
so much, I had decided that I never could feel at 
home in it, but Virg is so—Oh what shall I say— 
I mean that she could transform a barn into a real 
home almost, just by being in it herself, and now 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


157 


I’m going to look forward to returning and not 
dread it as I have/’ 

“But, dear, you are letting your imagination run 
along too fast. We aren’t sure that Virginia loves 
Peyton. I know she likes him, but Virg wouldn’t 
marry any one unless she were sure it was the big, 
lasting love. Perhaps she isn’t even sure herself as 
yet, so please, please don’t even show by the way you 
look at her, or at Peyton, that you suspect that there 
may be something between them.” 

The younger girl hesitated. “There’s just one 
person whom I do so wish I could tell; that’s Benjy 
Wilson. He felt so sorry when I told him how 
lonely I knew I was going to be at Three Cross, and 
he begged me to come and visit his mother when we 
all return. He said that Mrs. Wilson loves me,” the 
small girl blushed prettily. “Benjy thinks he does, 
you know.” 

Margaret laughed merrily and kissing each rosy 
cheek she exclaimed gayly: “Of course, I know. 
Benjy is still too young to think of trying to con¬ 
ceal his feelings. He lets us all know that he thinks 
Barbara is the sweetest, dearest, most adorable girl 
who ever lived, and we too think that she is rather 
nice. But don’t tell even your pal, Benjy, yet. 


158 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


Please keep your promise, and you did promise be¬ 
fore I told you a word. 

“Now let’s go down; I heard the get-ready-for- 
lunch-bell ringing at least fifteen minutes ago.” 
They were walking toward the door, but Megsy 
paused and shook a finger merrily at her friend as 
she repeated, “You won’t tell, will you, dear? You 
will keep your promise!” 

“Of course I will, but do hurry and let me out. 
I’m wild to just look at Virginia and Peyton. I 
want to see if they seem different now that I know 
all that you have told me.” 

Margaret had to open the door, but she was not 
at all sure that the impulsive Barbara could entirely 
keep the secret from her best friend, Benjy Wil¬ 


son. 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


159 


CHAPTER XVIII. 

BARBARA AND BENJY. 

That afternoon directly after lunch the girls, as 
usual, strolled down to the hammocks for their 
siesta; that is, all but Babs. She declared that she 
just couldn’t sleep; she wanted to be alone, and so 
she was going to walk along the beach quite by her¬ 
self. She started away, swinging her flowered 
summer hat by its blue ribbon strings. The girls 
watched her going, and, for that matter, another 
pair of eyes was also watching. The boys were 
sitting on the Point-of-Rocks discussing the prob¬ 
able reason for Jean Swiggett’s prolonged absence 
when Benjy saw the darling of his heart start off 
alone going up the beach in the opposite direction 
from the point. 

“I say, fellows, you can settle this momentous 
question, whatever it is, without my presence, I’m 
sure. I sort of feel like stretching my legs a bit.” 
He was gone before the others had fully grasped 


160 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


the fact that he was telling them that he was about 
to depart. Up the beach he raced calling, “Bar¬ 
bara, wait a jiff!” 

That little maid waited and Margaret, who saw 
the meeting, had a terrorized moment. Would 
Barbara be true to her trust? 

“What’s the big idea, Babsie?” Benjy asked as 
he caught up with and walked along side of the little 
maid. “I say, but you look sweet. I’m going to de¬ 
vour a whole book of poetry some day just so I’ll 
know how to tell you the way you look to me.” 

“Oh, Benjy, don’t let’s talk about that today. I 
know you think I’m pretty and I know I’m not 
ugly, so let’s call the matter settled.” 

Benjy’s eyes were openend wide with astonish¬ 
ment. “Why, Barbara Blair Wente,” he exclaimed, 
“do you mean to say that you don’t ever want me to 
tell you again that I think you are the sweetest, 
prettiest, most beautiful, most wonderful girl in all 
the world?” 

“If I didn’t what would there be left for us to 
talk about?” Babs turned toward him a face, girlish 
as ever, but in which there was an expression that 
the boy had never before seen, one of thoughtful 
seriousness. 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


161 


Her next remark was unexpected. “Benjy, what 
are you going to be when you are grown-up ?” 

“Me? Grown-up! Why, I don’t know, Babs. I 
never gave the matter any thought. I’m going to 
finish the course at Drexel, I suppose, and that will 
take two years. I’m sixteen now and then I’ll be 
eighteen. Will that be grown-up?” 

But the pretty head was shaking. “No-o, I 
shouldn’t say so. I think eighteen is called grown¬ 
up for a girl, but it takes twenty-one years to make 
a man out of a boy.” 

Benjy hedged. “I can’t tell you exactly what 
I’m going to be,” he replied, “but I can tell you 
what I’m going to do. I’m going to marry you; 
that is, if you’ll let me.” This last was added so 
humbly that the girl laughed; then again she was 
serious. “Benjy,” she said, “have you ever given 
any real thought to how you happen to be getting 
your education and what you are going to do with 
it; I mean, to make your parents’ sacrifice worth 
while?” 

The boy’s eyes turned questioningly. “Why, 
Babs,” he was sincerely puzzled, “I hadn’t thought 
that there was any sacrifice about it; what makes you 
think there is?” 

Your mother told Virginia last summer, when we 


162 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


were all at your home, that she and your Dad had 
put by a little money every year (money that they 
could have spent for little luxuries for themselves), 
hoping that there would be enough to send their 
two boys away to school, but when Harry was old 
enough to go, there was found to be not enough for 
two, and so he said that he would work on the ranch 
and help save, that there might surely be enough to 
give the younger brother a real education. I was 
sure you didn't know about that sacrifice, and I 
wanted you to, because then you would better under¬ 
stand the need of really making it count for some¬ 
thing.” 

For what seemed like a long time, the boy walked 
on in silence. “Gee, Babs, what a piker I’ve been! 
Taking all the money that might have given added 
comforts to my mother all through the years. I’d 
never have gone to school, not one step, Babs, honest 
I wouldn’t, if I’d known about it. I wish Hal had 
told me. He just said that he thought that I would 
take to polishing better than he would and that, any¬ 
way, he loved the desert and wanted always to live 
on it, while I was sure that life in an Eastern city 
would be more to my liking. I just accepted the 
money without asking where it came from. I ought 
to have known though, Babs, for I remember that 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


163 


one year Dad lost every sheep he possessed in a 
terrible blizzard and had to start all over on bor¬ 
rowed capital.” Then he stopped stock-still and 
gazed at his companion with an expression of man¬ 
liness on his face which rejoiced the heart of the 
girl to behold. “Babsie,” he held out his hand, 
“thank you for telling me. Now I wish you’d advise 
me. What ought I do? I’ll give up going to school 
if you think I ought. I’ll start right in on the ranch 
and help Dad.” 

But Barbara shook her head. “No, I wouldn’t do 
that. Your mother would be so disappointed. Her 
heart is set on your obtaining a real education and 
becoming some sort of a professional man. Of 
course, she wouldn’t want you to live in the East, but 
Red Riverton is a very beautiful little city and so, 
too, is Douglas.” 

Benjy was still unconvinced. “I say, Babs,” he 
blurted out, “now that I know about Mother and 
Dad going without, I just can’t take any more of 
that money, and I’m not sure that there is any more, 
for Mother’s illness has cost a lot. I’ll not go back 
to Drexel unless—” the boy’s sentence for a time 
was unfinished. He seemed to be deep in thought. 
Babs was just about to repeat the “unless,” hoping 
that it would recall to him what he had intended say- 


164 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


ing, when all of a sudden he whirled toward her 
exclaiming joyfully: “Oh, gee, Babsie! How I hope 
it isn’t too late. Come on back with me, will you, 
and I’ll write a letter to Dean Craig and mail it this 
very day. I say, Babs, will you ? I’ll need your help 
wording it to get it just right.” 

“But, Benjy, how can I help you when you haven’t 
told me what you have decided to do ?” 

“I’m going to work my way through the next two 
years at Drexel, Babsie, or else I’m going to stay at 
home and help Dad. At first I just couldn’t think of 
a thing to do, but all of a sudden it came to me. They 
have a tailor shop at the Academy where boys who 
are earning their schooling may work. There are 
about ten helpers. Of course, I thought of that first 
thing, but I can’t sew. I don’t suppose I could even 
learn how to press pants, but I could clean off the 
spots, and I’m as sure as anything that there’ll be 
vacancies, because two of the fellows graduated this 
year and I’m going to clinch onto one of them, if 
it isn’t too late.” 

Barbara’s eyes were aglow with pride. She caught 
the lad’s hand and held it in a firm clasp. “Oh, but 
I am proud of you!” she cried. “Benjy, you’re go¬ 
ing to make a nice man after all. Of course, I’ll help 
you write the letter, then we’ll take it over to Tor- 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


165 

) 

rence, shall we? Maybe it can start for the East this 
very night.'* 

A short time later, the girls swinging in the ham¬ 
mocks under the live oaks and the boys sauntering 
toward them from the Point-of-Rocks, saw the two, 
whom they called the “children” of the party, flying 
across the lawn, hand in hand, as fast as their feet 
could carry them. 

“Where away?” Eleanor called after them, but 
they did not hear or heed. They leaped up the front 
steps of the wide veranda and disappeared into the 
house. A full half hour later they reappeared, a 
letter written and sealed protruded from Benjy’s 
coat pocket. 

They met the group of young people on the wide 
driveway. 

“My, how excited you two infants look! What 
mischief are you plotting?” Malcolm asked. But it 
was to Eleanor that Barbara addressed her first re¬ 
mark. “Benjy has a letter he wants to mail this very 
minute; I mean, as soon as we can get to Torrence, 
and we were wondering how we can go. Do you 
suppose Mr. Howitt would let us borrow his two old 
horses, Sam and Sally?” 

“I don’t advise you to, if you’re in a hurry,” 
Eleanor laughingly told them, “but perhaps you can 


166 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


bribe Mr. Treadwell to take you over to the neigh¬ 
boring town in his Ford. He got it back from the 
city this morning, where it has been, so Mrs. Tread¬ 
well told me, for a thorough overhauling.” 

“Good! Do you suppose he would rent it to us ?” 
Benjy began, then whirling to Malcolm he said, 
“You know how to run one of them, don’t you, even 
if you do have a more bang-up kind of your own at 
home.” 

“Of course,” the lad addressed, smilingly replied. 
“If the owner is willing, I am.” 

Eleanor at that moment caught a glimpse of the 
gardener among the lemon trees and she went to ask 
him if he were willing to permit them to use his car. 
She returned with the information that Mr. Tread¬ 
well would be glad to loan it and all he would ask 
was that they fill it up with fuel before they returned. 
“There’s room for all of us with a little crowding,” 
that maiden continued. 

“We boys will walk up the grades; all but the 
driver, of course,” Peyton said. “Now, when shall 
we go?” 

“Instanter, if not sooner,” Benjy pleaded. 

The older boys wondered what very important 
business matter so young a boy had to attend to, but 
the girls, not in the secret, decided that he wanted 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


167 


to send a letter to the mother who had been ill and 
he so dearly loved. Only Babs knew the truth and 
she had agreed not to breathe a word. Two secrets 
in one day were a good many to keep, but Barbara 
meant to keep them both. Half an hour later, they 
were packed like sardines into the trusty little car. 
Eleanor, Margaret and Virg occupied the back seat, 
while Barbara had a camp stool in front of them, 
Malcolm was at the wheel, Peyton at his side, while 
Benjy sat in the opened door nearest the object of 
of his devotion. 

“Why, we could still take another passenger,” 
that lad sang out as the thronged equipage left the 
grounds, the occupants turning to wave to Mr. 
Treadwell, who stood leaning on his hoe and beam- 
ing good-naturedly as they passed him. It was all 
very well on the level road, but, when they began 
to climb the long grade which led to the mountain 
hamlet of Torrence, the small car did puff and pant 
in a way that made the boys decide to walk and even 
push if need be. However, although the former 
helped some, the latter was not found necessary. 
When at last the top of the grade was reached they 
again took their places and Eleanor, gazing ahead, 
found that she was truly eager for a first glimpse 
of the general store and postoffice. “Now we will 


168 


VIKGINIA’S EOMANCE 


know why our good friend Jean Swiggett has not 
been over to see us these three past days/' If was 
Peyton speaking. “He thought surely he could 
spend yesterday with us, but did not come/' 

The car drew up in front of the little store and 
the young people gave a merry call expecting the 
lad who lived there to leap out to welcome them, 
but no one appeared. Feeling somewhat anxious, 
Eleanor ascended the steps, but Benjy was ahead of 
her, so eager was he to mail his letter, but remem¬ 
bering his manners, he swung open the door, made 
a military salute and stepped back to permit the girls 
to enter. When at last he joined them he heard the 
comely Mrs. Swiggett telling Eleanor that Jean and 
his “Pa” had gone post haste to the city three days 
back and that she couldn’t make out the reason un¬ 
less it might be that “Pa Swiggett” wanted Jean 
along to help order the fall stock. They’d left 
word that they might be gone a week, “and again 
they mightn’t.” Then the good woman happened 
to think of something. 

“Be you all the young folks from over to Myra 
Pettes’ place?” she asked. “Yes, we are, Mrs. 
Swiggett. I am the niece and my name is Eleanor 
Pettes and these are my friends from the East.” 

“Glad to meet ye all,” the older woman said, and 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


169 


then she hurried to the postoffice corner and brought 
forth an envelope. It was addressed to Eleanor. 
“My son asked me to give this to anybody from 
your place who happened to come for the mail. He 
said he had promised to visit over there and this 
here letter’ll explain why he didn’t.” 

“Thank you.” The girl took the letter but did 
not open it. Instead, she slipped it into her deep 
sweater coat pocket. Then Benjy asked how soon 
the mail would go from Torrence. His expression 
was so truly distressed that the other young people, 
watching, knew at once that the information he re¬ 
ceived had troubled him. 

“What’s up, old man?” Peyton asked him as the 
boy walked toward the group near the door. “Bad 
news ?” 

“Well, I’ll say it is. I wanted this letter to go 
tonight but Mrs. Swiggett says, with her husband 
and son both away, there is no one to take the mail- 
pouch to the junction where the train picks it up. 
It’s too late anyway, as the train, when it’s on time, 
gets there at three-thirty, and now it is three- 
fifteen.” 

“Where is the junction? Is it far from here? 
We might have a race with the limited. Surely 
Mr. Treadwell’s Ford ought to be good for that?” 


170 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


Malcolm turned to the wife of the store-keeper and 
asked the direction they should go, adding, “If 
you’ll trust us with the pouch, we’ll gladly return 
it if we cannot get there in time to put it aboard 
the mail train.” 

“I’m feared it’s too late,” Mrs. Swiggett said. 
Then going to the open door, she pointed down in 
the valley beyond the poor farm. “Wall, for once 
the train is on time, so thar’s no use goin\” The 
young people saw a rushing column of smoke emerg¬ 
ing from a tunnel. They silently watched the 
snake-like movement of the far distant train until 
it came to a standstill. Then after but a moment’s 
pause, it started again, and soon disappeared. 
“Well, that’s that!” Benjy said, looking at Babs 
with an expression of disappointment. 

“I don’t believe you’ll lose out,” Barbara drew 
him aside to say comfortingly. “One day isn’t go¬ 
ing to make much difference. Don’t you want to 
leave the letter in the pouch.” 

But the lad shook his head. “What’s the use? 
If Jean or his father don’t return, when will it be 
mailed? No one knows.” 

“Can’t you wire to your mother if you want to 
send her a message?” Peyton inquired. “Though 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 171 

I suppose we’d have to go down to the junction eyen 
to do that.” 

A noise without attracted their attention and a 
very handsome equipage was drawing up in front 
of the store. “It’s Senor Juan Rodriguez,” Mrs. 
Swiggett told them. “He as owns all the moun¬ 
tains over beyond the junction. I was hoping he’d 
come by. He’s always that willing to take the 
pouch being as he passes right that way. It’s Jose 
Arruguin, his foreman, as is drivin’ for him. Here 
comes Jose’s little son.” A bright-eyed Mexican 
boy entered and seemed to be asking in his native 
tongue, if there was any mail for the Senor or the 
Senora. The good woman hurried again to the 
postoffice comer, brought forth the pouch and bid¬ 
ding Benjy drop in his letter, she herself carried it 
to the waiting equipage. The lads offered to assist 
but she seemed to want to go herself. A handsome 
old gentleman with very white hair and very dark 
eyes, bowed gallantly when she approached and, in 
answer to her query, he bade his driver take the 
pouch, the small boy then scrambled to his place by 
the overseer’s side and the spirited horses, stepping 
high, started down the mountain road that led to the 
valley. 


172 


HKGINIA’S EOMANCE 


‘‘That handsome old gentleman looks like a char¬ 
acter in a story/’ Margaret said. 

Then after purchasing nearly all the stick candy 
that Mrs. Swiggett had in her stock and leaving a 
message for Jean to come to see them as soon as he 
returned, the young people rode away far more 
puzzled and mystified, even, than they had been 
when they had arrived in Torrence. 

Barbara glanced down the valley road and to¬ 
ward the Poor Farm. “I believe I can see the fallen 
rock from here,” she said in an awed voice. “It 
sort of gives me the chilly-shivers to think about it. 
I just know that old man’s prophecy was true. Some¬ 
thing is going to happen that will be put in all the 
papers in the country. I feel it in my bones, but I 
can’t think what it will be.” 

“Maybe we’re going to find Hugh Ward,” Mal¬ 
colm glanced over his shoulder to say. 

“Keep your eye on the wheel, if you please Mr. 
Driver,” Benjy implored, “or it’ll be in the paper 
that seven of the country’s most promising young 
people came to an untimely end in the Sierra Madre 
Mountains.” 

A sudden lurch of the small car seemed to accent¬ 
uate the need of careful driving, and, for a time, the 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


173 


occupants were unusually silent, each busy with 
thoughts of his or her own. 

But Babs was right. Henk Walley’s prophecy 
was about to be fulfilled. 


174 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


CHAPTER XIX. 

ELEANOR'S PROBLEM. 

When the young people reached Eleanor’s home, 
their hostess slipped away to her own room, as she 
wished to be alone when she read the note from Jean 
Swiggett. She wondered at her eagerness. Why 
should she care whether or no a store-keeper’s son 
had visited them. 

Sinking down in a comfortable chair that was fac¬ 
ing wide windows overlooking the sea, the girl sat 
for a thoughtful moment before opening the missive. 
Why had she spoken, even to herself, of Jean Swig¬ 
gett as a “store-keeper’s son”? What did his parent¬ 
age matter ? Eleanor had never been a snob. In school 
she had chosen her friends from among the girls 
who were intellectually interesting to her. She had 
chummed for many months with Anne Carson be¬ 
fore she had discovered that her father was a suc¬ 
cessful wholesale butcher. The knowledge had in 
no way lessened her regard for Anne whose interests 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


175 


were so like her own, as were also her aspirations 
and ideals. 

“I am proud to claim this store-keeper's son, this 
mountain-bred boy, as one of my very best friends,” 
she assured herself, “and I shall be equally proud, if 
the opportunity ever presents itself, to introduce him 
to anyone of whatever station.” 

Why she felt called upon to reason in this manner 
with herself, Eleanor did not then analyze. In what 
way it was vital to her she did not question. She 
liked Jean, better than any lad she had ever met, but 
that was all. One of the chief reasons, she was con- 
convinced, was the fact that he had been an intimate 
companion of her beloved Aunt Myra. The girl 
never thought of the woman who had been her bene¬ 
factor as other than “beloved.” 

Smilingly she opened the envelope and glanced at 
the missive it contained. She liked the handwriting. 
Somehow it looked like the boy who had written it, 
graceful, and yet strong in stroke; forceful was the 
word that best expressed it, she was sure. Then she 
read: 

# 

“Dear Friend Eleanor: 

“This is to explain why I cannot visit you today 
to assist in entertaining your friends. I had planned 


176 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


taking you all to one of my favorite haunts, but we 
will go there at some other time. 

“When I reached home last night, I found Dad 
pacing up and down in the store. I knew at once 
hat he was greatly troubled. Indeed I have realized 
ithat ever since the finding of the gun, which proved 
the truth of the miner’s story. I have wondered, of 
course, why all this should seem to mean so much to 
my Dad, who has been, ever since I have known him, 
the soul of honor and kindliness. That he could 
have done anything dishonorable, is, of course, un¬ 
believable, but why he grieves, for he really seemed 
to be grieving, over the disappearance of the two 
whom the old people in the city called ‘Master and 
Little Pigeon’ has, of course, been beyond my com¬ 
prehension, but I had determined to wait until Dad 
thought best to share with me whatever was troubling 
him. However, when I entered the store last 
evening and saw how haggard he had grown in the 
week that had elasped since my visit to the city, I 
could no longer keep silent, and so I went to him, 
and, putting my arm about his shoulder, I implored 
him to let me share whatever was troubling him. 

“To my surprise he took me in his arms and 
sobbed like a child, but only for a moment. He then 
sank down in his chair by the stove and bade me see 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


177 


if Mother was asleep. When I returned, replying in 
the affirmative, he said: ‘It is well. I do not want 
her to even suspect as yet/ Then he told me all that 
had occurred on the night of the blizzard, the one 
on which Pick Ax Alek had heard the voice crying 
in the darkness, ‘Lost! Lost! L-o-s-t/ 

“I was very much affected by the story and yet 
greatly relieved as my dear old Dad had done nothing 
to cause him a moment’s regret. 

“When the tale was told, we decided to leave for 
the city early the following morning and try to 
verify what Dad believes are the facts. 

“Although I am greatly excited about all this, 
Eleanor, I do not want to share it, even with the 
niece of my good friend whom I was permitted to 
call ‘Aunt Myra/ until I positively know that it is 
true. 

“Dad is going to take advantage of this trip to the 
city to replenish his stock for the winter and so we 
may be gone for several days, but I shall ride over 
to visit you just as soon as we return. Then I will 
tell you the closing chapters of the ghost story, the 
beginning of which was told to you by old Mr. 
Howitt. 

“By the way, Eleanor, have you ever thought of 
asking Mrs. Howitt the name of the Mexican guide 


178 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


who took care of the young Hugh Ward in those 
long-ago days when he first came to those mountains 
to recover his health? I have been so engrossed in 
my own affairs, and those of my Dad, that I have not 
been of much help to you in your search for the 
missing old gentleman who is part owner with you 
of the Mira Cielo estate. 

“Dad is ready now, so I will have to make haste. 
We’re going to walk down to the junction and we 
don’t want to miss the train. Next week—but I 
won’t write that; I will let next week reveal it. 

“Your friend, 

“Jean Swiggett.” 

The girl’s heart was filled with conflicting emo¬ 
tions. Had she not been guilty of late, for suddenly 
she realized that she had not really cared whether or 
no she ever found the old gentleman, Hugh Ward. 
Of course it was but natural that her Aunt Myra, 
having loved her one-time fiance all through the 
years, should wish to let him know that she had been 
thinking of him, and yet, why had she not left some 
more definite directions concerning the matter? 

Folding the letter, Eleanor slipped it in a box in 
which were her few treasures, and, rising, she went 
slowly down stairs. The young people were out on 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


179 


the lawn playing a merry game of battledore and 
shuttlecock. She could hear their laughter and gay 
bantering. As hostess she was glad that they were 
happily occupied, but she did not feel in a mood just 
then to join them. She wanted to be alone, almost 
without realizing where she was going, she turned 
and walked into the long silent room which was 
darkened by vines that grew over the veranda. In 
another moment she was standing in front of the 
painting of her Aunt Myra. What a happy, peace¬ 
ful calm there was in that wrinkled face while the 
suggestion of a smile that lurked in the kindly eyes 
and about the mouth told of a courage and opto- 
mistic outlook which she knew that her aunt had 
possessed. 

“Dear Aunt Myra,” the girl addressed the paint¬ 
ing in thought, “I will not give up the quest. I’ll 
keep on searching for the old gentleman whom in the 
long-ago you loved so dearly; so dearly that you 
could never care for another.” 

Of course it was only her imagination but the girl 
almost believed that the pictured lips and eyes had 
smiled. Just then she heard her name shouted. 
“Eleanor, where are you? We want you to judge 
this game. The boys insist that they are winning 
and we want you to tell them that they are wrong.” 


180 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


When the hostess joined them, she tried to share 
in their merriment, but Virginia, glancing at her 
every now and then, saw that her friend was really 
thinking of something that had nothing whatever to 
do with the game. Believing that Eleanor would 
rather be alone, Virg suggested that the boys go 
for a hike while the girls spend an hour at letter 
writing, which they had long promised themselves. 

As the boys really were losing in the game, which 
required more grace and skill than they possessed, 
they were glad to do as Virg suggested, and so they 
departed, declaring that they were going to climb to 
the highest peak within their vision and that they 
might not return until nightfall. 

“We know better than that.” Margaret teased. 
“You’ll come back when you’re hungry.” 

Catching Babs by the hand, Megsy led her up the 
wide front stairs to their own room, leaving the two 
older girls alone. 

“Do you really care so very much about writing 
letters ?” Eleanor asked. “For, if you don’t, I wish 
you’d go with me over to the Point. I want to listen 
to the crash of the surf for awhile, and I’d like to 
have you with me.” 

“I’d like to go, Kindred Spirit,” Virginia replied. 
“I suggested that we all write letters because I 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


181 


thought that you wanted to be alone with your 
thoughts.” 

“I do, and yet having someone with me who un¬ 
derstands is even better than being alone.” Hand 
in hand these two walked over the lawn, under the 
gnarled live oaks and across the sand, made hard by 
the tide that had retreated. They climbed to the 
highest boulder and sat there watching the surf that 
rolled threateningly toward them, but though it 
crashed on the base of the great rock, it could not 
fling it spray as high as they were. 

“How wonderful it must seem, to you, Eleanor, to 
realize that you own this beautiful place, with its 
wide valley filled with orange and lemon trees, its 
foot hills, even the beach and this Point-of-Rocks, 
Mrs. Treadwell tells me, belongs to the Mira Cielo 
estate.” 

The other girl agreed, and then she said: “And 
yet I have found myself wondering if dear Aunt 
Myra would not gladly have given it all for the love 
which she would not have. That she never ceased 
to care for her one-time fiance is proven by the fact 
that she wanted him to share her home after her 
death.” 

“It is a very sad story,” Virginia said. “Do you 
think she did right to insist that he marry the girl to 


182 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


whom he was promised before he met and loved 
her?” 

“Yes, I believe it was right if the girl still wanted 
him, and she did, Mrs. Howitt said. But, Virg, tell 
me, wouldn’t you rather have love, real love and com¬ 
panionship, than an estate, however beautiful?” 

The girl addressed watched a gleaming white sea¬ 
gull that swung in circles over the blue water for a 
thoughtful moment before she replied, then turning 
to her friend, she placed her hand on the one near 
her as she asked ? “Eleanor, won’t you tell me of what 
you are thinking, then I can better answer your 
question.” 

“Yes, I will, for I have no one else in whom I can 
confide. Dad would not understand and I haven’t a 
sister. Virginia, I sometimes think, that is, very 
lately I have thought, that I might care for someone 
of a station not equal to my own, someone, I mean, 
who is poor and who will have years of struggle 
ahead before he will be in a position to ask anyone 
to marry him even if he cared. A fine lad he is, 
who would never ask a girl who owned an estate to 
share life with him, and so she, too, would miss that 
priceless thing, love, and just because she was rich 
and he was poor.” 


VIRGINIA'S ROMANCE 


183 


“That is why you asked me if I would not rather 
have love than an estate ?” 

“Yes.” 

Again there was a thoughtful silence. “Of course 
I would, but I believe one could have both.” Then 
Virginia put an arm about her companion. “Eleanor, 
may I guess who the lad is?” 

The eyes of her friend turned frankly. Then she 
smiled. “You do not need to guess. It is Jean 
Swiggett. He is poor, very poor, and so he would 
never ask me to marry him, and, Virginia, strange 
as it may seem, I do want him to. I have known him 
such a very little while, and yet, right away I felt 
that we were just ideal comrades.” 

“He is a splendid lad, and I know that he admires 
you. I believe you are right though. He would be 
too proud to ask you to marry him until he could 
provide well for you.” 

Then, as it was nearing the dinner hour, the girls 
climbed back down the rocks. Margaret’s prophecy 
proved true. The boys were already returning. 
They carried a dead rattlesnake on a stick declaring 
that the killing of it had taken so long they had 
decided to postpone until another day the climbing 
of the almost unscalable peak La Cumbre. 

“We’re hungry as Russian wolves in winter,” 


184 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


Benjy told Babs, who, with Margaret, was waiting 
on the path, “and so we brought this home, thinking 
that if there wasn't enough grub we might make a 
rattlesnake pie.” 

“Ugh! Take the dreadful thing away somewhere 
and bury it,” Megsy pleaded. 

“No-sir-ee! I'm going to make a belt of its skin 
and give the rattles—there are nine in all—for Babs 
to keep in her sewing box as charm that will protect 
her from harm. For the time being, however, I 
will leave it right under this rose bush, but tomor¬ 
row, at dawn, I will return and procure my belt.” 

But the gardener, passing by a few moments 
after the young people had gone indoors, gave it a 
speedy burial. “No accounting for snakes,” he con¬ 
fided to the rose bush, “I’ve known them to seem 
to be dead when they was only stunned, and later 
they'd up and come to and crawl away. We can't 
take any chances with a rattler.” 

And so Benjy did not have his belt nor Babs her 
charm. 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


185 


CHAPTER XX. 

A MIDNIGHT VISITOR. 

It was along about midnight when Virginia was 
awakened by some unusual sound. She sat up in 
bed and listened. She heard it again and this time 
she was sure that it was a door that had creaked 
open. Their own door, she could see, was closed. 
Touching her sleeping companion, she whispered: 
“Eleanor, someone is up and moving about. Who 
do you suppose it is?” 

Before they could be really frightened there came 
a light tap on their door and a voice, which they 
recognized as Mrs. Treadwell's, was speaking 
softly: “Miss Eleanor, I want to see you.” 

Dazed at having been so suddenly awakened, the 
girl arose and slipped on her warm quilted kimona, 
for the nights were cold, then, after having donned 
her slippers, she flashed on the light and opened the 
door. 

The housekeeper, fully dressed, was standing in 


186 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


the hall. “Miss Eleanor,” she said, “Mother has 
not been well this evening and so I have been sit¬ 
ting up with her over in the cottage. About half 
an hour ago, she began asking to see you. I did 
not want to waken you, and told her so, but when 
she began talking about Hugh Ward I thought per¬ 
haps you would want to come.” 

“Yes indeed, Mrs. Treadwell, I do want to. Vir¬ 
ginia, will you accompany me?” Then, when her 
room-mate had answered in the affirmative, Eleanor 
said: “We will dress quickly, Mrs. Treadwell. Do 
not wait for us if you think you would better re¬ 
turn to your mother.” 

“Well, I think perhaps I had better. There is 
no one with her now but father, and since he is so 
deaf and unable to keep awake, she may really need 
me.” 

Ten minutes later the two girls groped their 
way down the wide front stairs. They clung to 
each other, more for steadiness than from fear. “I 
wish we had a lantern.” Eleanor was opening the 
front door as she spoke. “Oh-o!” she shuddered: 
“What a dense wet fog! However will we be able 
to find the cottage?” 

“There’s a light in the window. See, Mrs. Tread¬ 
well has opened the cottage door. Now we will 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


187 


have no trouble in finding the way. I do hope the 
old lady will not wander again before we get there.” 

Virginia was curious to see the mother of Mrs. 
Treadwell, and she was pleasantly surprised to find 
her a bright-eyed, amiable-appearing little woman, 
who looked up eagerly when they entered, but that 
her mind was not clear was quite evident by the 
fact that she greeted Eleanor as “Miss Myra.” 

“I’ve sent for you,, dear Miss Myra,” she said, 
taking the girl's hand in her own, “to beg you not 
to give up the love of that good young man. I've 
lived a lot longer than you have, and I know a good 
lad when I see one and, what's more, I've heard 
about kind things he's done for mountain people. 
Many a time when he's out in the garden with you, 
Jose Arruguin stops in here to wait for his young 
master. Jose’s been guide in these parts for a good 
many chaps from the city, but he says he never met 
up before with one that’s so truly a gentleman. 
Often they stop at a mountaineer's cabin for a bite 
to eat, and Hugh Ward always manages to do some¬ 
thing nice for the poor woman and her children be¬ 
fore he goes on his way.” 

Then leaning forward, the little old woman re¬ 
peated with an almost feverish eagerness, “Miss 


188 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


Myra, promise me, promise me you won’t give up 
the love of Hugh Ward.” 

Eleanor glanced at the housekeeper who was 
standing back of her mother. “I promise, Mrs. 
Howitt,” the girl replied solemnly, feeling very un¬ 
real, but believing that it was best to do as the old 
lady wished, “I promise that I will not give up the 
love of Hugh Ward.” 

Virginia, who had remained near the door, could 
hardly believe that the voice she heard was that of 
her friend. 

“The saints be praised!” There was a light of 
real happiness in the wrinkled old face. “Now I 
can go to sleep again, daughter. It’s worried me 
so, knowing that it was all wrong. Goodbye, Miss 
Myra.” 

When the girls were again groping their way 
through the fog Virginia realized that her com¬ 
panion was shivering. 

“Are you so very cold, dear ?” she asked when they 
had entered the hall of the big house in which they 
had left a light burning. 

“I don’t know what I am. I do seem cold and 
yet I feel so very unreal. Don’t you?” Virg saw 
that Eleanor’s face was pale and her eyes wide and 
startled. 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


189 


Mrs. Treadwell had followed them almost at 
once, and as she entered the hall she said softly: 
“Go to the kitchen, girls. It is warm and the kettle 
is boiling. I always keep a fire when I am up with 
Mother. She is asleep now and will not waken 
until morning.” She led the way as she talked. 

The big kitchen was lighted and warm and the 
singing of the tea kettle on the big old-fashioned 
stove had such a normal every-day sort of a sound 
that Eleanor, looking at her companion, asked: 
“Have I been dreaming and have you just awakened 
me?” 

“No, it’s all real, Miss Eleanor,” the house¬ 
keeper said. “I would not have called you if I had 
supposed that my mother would have mistaken you 
for Miss Myra. Last time she seemed to fully 
realized that you were the niece, but now she her¬ 
self is living, it would seem, in the long ago. 
Mother loved your aunt very dearly, and it almost 
broke her heart to watch her, year after year, grow¬ 
ing older alone, when she knew that love really be¬ 
longed to her.” 

As she talked, Mrs. Treadwell was preparing two 
cups of hot chocolate and the girls, sitting close to 
the fire, sipped them gratefully. 

The clock struck one and Eleanor smiled at her 


190 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


companion. “Wouldn’t Babs and Megsy be en¬ 
vious if they knew that we were having midnight 
refreshments while they are asleep?” Then, turning 
to the housekeeper, she asked: “Do you recall the 
name of the guide who was with Hugh Ward in 
those long ago days? It sounded Spanish to me. 
I tried to remember it, but I did not.” 

Virginia’s face brightened. “I can’t recall the 
name, but I knew I had heard it before, and it has 
just come to me when and where.” 

Eleanor turned questioningly. “Where?” she 
asked. 

“In Torrence. That was the name of the driver 
of that interesting equipage; the one in which the 
handsome old Spanish gentleman was riding.” 

“But he was young and the guide must now be, 
why, as old as Aunt Myra would have been, 
surely.” 

Mrs. Treadwell had never before heard the name, 
as she had been but a baby in the long ago days 
when the guide had waited in her mother’s home. 

Although the girls stole very softly back to their 
rooms when they were thoroughly warm, they did 
not sleep at once. After a time Eleanor whispered: 
“Tomorrow I am going to suggest that we start early 
and visit the estate of that fine old Spanish gentle- 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


191 


man. The driver of his carriage, since he has the 
same name, may be able to tell us something about 
the guide, and, Oh, Virg, if we could only find that 
old man, he might be able to give us some informa¬ 
tion that would help us locate Hugh Ward. To¬ 
night I feel more than ever that I must find him for 
dear Aunt Myra’s sake.” 


192 


VIRGINIA'S ROMANCE 


CHAPTER XXI. 

MERRY CHATTER. 

Scarcely were the two girls awake in the morn¬ 
ing when there came another tap on their door. 
Megsy and Babs, in kimonas and slippers, appeared 
before they could wonder if again it was Mrs. Tread¬ 
well. The eyes of the visitors plainly showed that 
something had happened which they believed to be 
of an unusual nature. 

“Eleanor, what do you think? In the night we 
heard the door to the closed room open, Oh, ever so 
stealthily. I just know that we did! At first Megsy 
and I were scared stiff, and though we wanted to 
come in here with you we simply couldn’t stir. Half 
an hour later, we heard it close again and footsteps, 
shuffled away down stairs, and not until we were sure 
that the way was clear did we venture out of our 
beds. We stole across the hall and leaped into your 
room, and then we had a worse scare than ever, for 
both of you girls had been spirited away. We haven’t 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


193 


slept a single wink since; I am sure that we haven’t. 
We were so frightened! What did happen to you? 
Were you spirited away by that ghost? Virg, why 
are you laughing in that way as though it were some¬ 
thing amusing?” 

It was Eleanor who answered for her room-mate. 
“Dear, I can easily understand that you were very 
much frightened. The truth of the matter, though, 
is very simple, as you will agree when you have 
heard the explanation. It was Mrs. Treadwell who 
came to our door about midnight, and a short time 
after that she stole away, not 'shuffled/ that she need 
not waken you girls. After that, even more quietly, 
Virg and I followed her to visit the cabin in which 
her mother lives, as she had particularly requested 
that she might see me.” 

Babs settled comfortably on the side of the bed, 
her expression changing to one of interest and eager¬ 
ness. 

“Oh, do tell us what happened ? Have you at last 
learned the mystery of the closed room ?” 

“No-o! I’ll have to confess that our visit was 
rather a disappointment to me. That dear old 
woman thought that I was Aunt Myra. She was 
just about my age, Mrs. Treadwell believes, when 
she was engaged. What Mrs. Howitt wanted was 


194 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


to implore me to marry Hugh Ward, and, girls, of 
course I had to promise that I would. It made me 
feel so unreal.” 

Babs nestled closer and drew her kimona closer. 
“Oh, Oh, I should think so! Wasn’t that a spooky 
adventure ? I don’t know whether I’m glad or sorry 
that you didn’t take us.” 

“Be glad then,” Virg smilingly suggested, “for the 
fog hung like a wet blanket all over the grounds and 
it was so dark all we could see was the faint light in 
the cottage window and door.” 

Margaret, in her quiet way, had been giving the 
matter more thought. Looking up she said: 
“Eleanor, don’t you dislike making a promise that 
you know you can’t keep. You have promised to 
marry Hugh Ward, and even though we find him, 
you cannot marry a man old enough to be your father 
or your grandfather even.” 

Eleanor nodded as she drew herself to a sitting 
posture among the pillows. “I am sorry that I was 
called upon to make such an impossible promise, but 
of course it was merely done to quiet the troubled 
heart of Aunt Myra’s faithful old housekeeper. It 
seems that she has grieved all these years. Mrs. 
Treadwell said that had Miss Myra been her very 
own child she could not have cared more for her; in 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


195 


fact, added to her love was a sort of reverence for 
one who was so much superior in every way.” 

Eleanor was gazing at Margaret thoughtfully. 
“There was one thing that we learned that may 
prove of use to us in our search for Hugh Ward, and 
that is we heard again the name of the guide with 
whom he lived somewhere in the mountains when he 
first met Aunt Myra.” 

“Why do you say ‘again’ ?” Megsy inquired. 

“Because it was the name of the driver of that in¬ 
teresting old equipage that stopped for a moment at 
the store the other day when we were in Torrence. 
I recognized it at once, but I could not remember it, 
not being familiar with Spanish names. Now my 
plan is this: Directly after breakfast I am going to 
suggest to the boys that we all visit the ranch in the 
second range of mountains which Mrs. Swiggett 
told us belongs to that handsome elderly Spanish 
gentleman. His name, too, I have forgotten, but 
we will stop at the store on our way and learn ail 
that we ought to know before making the visit.” 

“Oh good!” Babs clapped her hands noiselessly. 
“And maybe Jean will be home from the city, and 
if he is he will go with us. Shall we borrow the Ford 
again ?” 

“I don’t know as yet. There’s the rising bell. Now 


196 


VIRGINIA'S ROMANCE 


et’s make haste, so that we’ll have time to run to 
the beach and back before breakfast/* 

This was done and when the girls reached the 
edge of the shining silvery sand, they heard a merry 
hallooing and saw the boys leaping toward them 
from the direction of Point-of-Rocks. 

Benjy, in the lead, held up a string of queer-look¬ 
ing fish. “We've been surf fishing," he shouted, 
“and we actually caught six/' 

“Oh, what odd-shaped things they are, so flat and 
with their eyes on their backs," Eleanor exclaimed. 

Babs was backing away. “Oh, Benjy, don't bring 
them near me. They’re edged with thorns." 

“They are rather fierce-looking fellows," the boy 
agreed, but nevertheless it was plain to see that he 
was quite proud of them. “I landed three and the 
other fellows only got one each." 

“What do you call them ?" Virg was gazing at 
them with interest. Coming from the desert where 
there never was any fishing, it was a new thing to 
her to see them thus freshly caught and hanging to¬ 
gether on a string. Moreover, she again had the 
same sensation that she had experienced when she 
had watched the herd of prize yearlings being driven 
to the train. She shuddered at the thought that one 
form of life preyed upon another. 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


197 


“It’s a sort of mud fish/’ Peyton told her. “I was 
on the California coast for quite a time before you 
met me.” He flushed, as he always did when he 
referred to his vagabond days. “And I found them 
very good eating when I was—well—sort of camp¬ 
ing out by myself along the shore. I liked the shell 
fish, too, that cling to the rocks. You can get them 
at low tide.” 

They were nearing the house as they talked and 
the appetizing odor of the breakfast drifted out to 
them, causing them to hurry. The lads carried their 
catch to the kitchen door, washed at a pump on the 
wide back porch and rejoined the waiting girls in the 
rose garden just as a silvery tinkling called them 
within. 

“What’s the plan for the day?” Malcolm asked. 
“You know, sister, we will have to soon be thinking 
of going back into the harness.” He was drawing 
out Margaret’s chair as he spoke. 

“Malcolm Davis, have you been thinking of V. M. 
Ranch? You know that is positively against orders.” 
His sister pretended to scold as she shook a finger at 
him from across the table. 

“Well, I have been sort of wondering if the check 
has come from Chicago as yet, and whether Slim—” 


198 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


“Hark! I won’t listen to another word. Megsy, 
put your hand over his mouth, please.” 

The little maid addressed, blushed, for Malcolm, 
with mischief twinkling in his eyes, had pursed up 
his mouth as though preparing to greet the fingers of 
his beloved if they ventured that way, which they did 
not. Instead she passed him the sugar for his grape¬ 
fruit. 

“Megsy thinks you need sweetening, old dear,” 
Peyton laughingly remarked. 

“No, I don’t,” Margaret retorted. 

“Come, come!” Benjy pretended to be quite 
superior to such nonsensical bantering. “Let’s talk 
sense; that is, let’s plan some interesting adventure 
for the day. How I do wish Jean were at home. He 
knows every nook and cranny around these moun¬ 
tains. I’m sure we will go away without seeing the 
most interesting sight of all.” 

“I believe Jean will be here today or tomorrow.” 
It was Eleanor speaking. “Because in the note he 
left for us he wrote that he would be gone not more 
than a week and—” 

“Hear! Hear!” Put in the merry Benjy. “The note 
Jean left for *us\ Now I would like to inquire, did 
anyone of you girls except Eleanor so much as get 
a squint at the envelope?” 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


199 


Megsy and Babs shook their heads, and Virg, 
when pressed had to agree that she not seen the 
note. 

“And what is more,” the youth continued, “I re¬ 
call that Mrs. Swiggett said that her husband might 
be gone longer than he expected while buying the 
fall stock for his mixed Emporium. But of course 
three days—or is it four?—might seem like a week 
under certain circumstances, I presume. Now were 
I separated from the darling of my heart—naming 
no names—one hour would seem one eternity.” 

“Benjy, you are too silly.” Although Eleanor was 
not vexed, she did protest. “Of course Jean Swig- 
gett’s presence or absence are quite the same to me 
except for two reasons. One is that he very kindly 
offered to guide my guests to interesting places in 
the neighborhood, which we cannot find alone, and 
the second is that he was so eager to help me solve 
the mystery of Hugh Ward.” 

“Well, I for one, do hope that mystery will be 
solved before we have to return,” Barbara put in, 
“and if Malcolm is beginning to think of V. M., we 
might as well pack our satchels, but I did so want to 
be here, Eleanor, when you open the door that has 
for so long been closed and locked. Didn’t you, 
Virg?” 


200 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


“Why, yes. I would like to know what is in the 
front room. I am sure it is something lovely, since 
Miss Myra was such a beautiful character. But, 
Eleanor has twice tried to tell us her plan for the 
day; that is, we girls do know it, but you boys do 
not.” 

“Silence, everyone! Eleanor, may we hear the 
plan?” Peyton rose and held up one hand in which 
was a carving knife. 

Everyone turned toward Eleanor, who told the 
plan she had made, but to the boys she said nothing 
at all of her night visit to the cottage of the old 
housekeeper or of the strange promise that she 
made. 

“Great! I think that will be jolly fun.” Benjy was 
enthusiastic. “How about it, Malcolm? Do you 
want to drive the trusty Ford over another mountain 
road ?” 

“I most certainly do not,” that lad responded with 
emphasis. “If any car is to be driven over nearly 
Derpendicular roads in the future, Mr. Treadwell 
must do the driving, as I suppose he is familiar with 
;hem.” 

They were sauntering toward the front veranda 
as they talked. 

“There is our friend, the gardener, this minute, 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


201 


and, as he is mounted on horse-back, he may be 
starting away on a long journey. Somebody run and 
delay him a moment until Eleanor can ask him about 
the mountain roads.” Peyton’s suggestion was fol¬ 
lowed by all of the boys, who raced down the drive¬ 
way hallooing so noisily that the gardener drew rein 
and looked back expecting, at the very least, to see 
the old house bursting into flame. His pleasant 
smile broadened when he saw the boys racing toward 
him, their eager, laughing faces assuring him that 
whatever their errand might be it was in no way 
related to disaster. 

He sat on his horse listening as one after another 
of the lads explained what the young mistress of 
Mira Cielo desired. “The little car couldn’t make 
that grade,” the gardener declared, “but Sam and 
Sally can do it, stopping now and then to rest. The 
curves are too sharp and narrow for a car, but the 
old stage-coach which my wife’s father drives can 
navigate those turns with more or less safety. He’ll 
be willing to take you, I am sure. So long!” WitK 
that the gardener rode on his way. 

The boys stood staring blankly at each other and 
the girls as they came up, heard Peyton exclaiming: 
“Whew-gee! ‘With more or less safety*. Did you get 
on to that? Young ladies, if you persist, insist and 


202 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


will not desist from going, I advise you to all go 
indoors first and make your wills.” 

“Instead of that, let's hunt up old Mr. Howitt and 
ask him if the road is really as dangerous as you 
think it is.” Eleanor was glancing in the direction of 
the vine-covered cottage as she spoke. 

“I know where the old gentleman basks in the sun 
every morning,” Margaret told them. “He takes a 
paper and sits on the Southeast side of the house in 
a quaint old chair. The queer part of it is, though, 
that it's always the same newspaper and the date of 
it is long, long ago.” 

“Eead the way!” Benjy sang out. Margaret, with 
Malcolm as ever at her side, followed a narrow gravel 
path around to the back of the cabin and there, as 
she had said, the old man sat nodding over a news¬ 
paper, yellow with age. 

He looked up, not because he had heard the ap¬ 
proaching footsteps or the merry banter and laughter 
of the young people, but because he seemed to sense 
that he was no longer alone. 

He nodded and smiled showing his toothless gums. 
“Howdy! Howdy!” He leaned forward with both 
hands on his cane. 

“Great guns!” It was Benjy ejaculating. “How 
in the D-K-N-S are we going to make the stone-deaf 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


203 


old gentleman know what we want ? Can he read ?” 

This of Eleanor: “If he could we might write out 
our request.” 

“Why, of course he can read, I suppose, If he 
couldn’t, why would he be holding this newspaper ?” 

“That’s just why I don’t believe he can,” Peyton 
said. “If he could read he would want one of a later 
date.” 

“Well, we can try.” Malcolm had taken an en¬ 
velope from his pocket on which he wrote in large 
letters the object of their visit. 

The old man looked at the envelope, then shook his 
head. 

“Try making a picture of it,” Benjy suggested. 

This was done and the old man at once arose, nod¬ 
ding like a mandarin. “Want to go up Torrence 
way? Thought you’d like the coach better than that 
new-fangled vehicle.” Then to the boys the terse 
inquiry: “Help hitch ?” 

The girls sauntered along toward the stables to 
complete their plans. “We can’t make a picture of 
where we want to go after we reach Torrence,” 
Margaret said: “What shall we do then ?” 

“We can ask Mrs. Swiggett to tell us the direction 
and then, as we go, we can point out the way to our 
ancient driver.” 


204 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


This plan being agreed upon, the girls went in¬ 
doors to put up a lunch and tell Mrs. Treadwell 
where they were going. 

It had occurred to them to consult her, and they 
were surprised to find that she hesitated a long 
minute before saying: “I am not sure that the second 
range roads are safe.” Then noting the expressions 
of disappointment and dismay on the faces of the 
girls, the good woman added: “But Mrs. Swiggett 
will know. Promise me, Eleanor you will not ven¬ 
ture unless she thinks it would be safe for the coach 
to go, or, unless Jean is there to guide.” 

The promise was willingly given, as the girls 
themselves did not wish to run into any real danger. 
Life was too precious for them to be fool-hardy, 
and so, an hour later, they climbed into the old stage¬ 
coach which, as the ancient driver had assured them, 
had carried passengers and bags of gold dust over the 
mountains as long ago as 1849. 

The wide front seat would hold two beside Mr. 
Hewitt and Peyton had asked Virginia if she would 
ride up there with him. 

“Why, if none of the other girls wish to,” she had 
replied, and, as they had all declared that they much 
preferred to ride inside, Peyton, for the first time in 
a long while had the prospect of being nearly alone 


VIRGINIAN ROMANCE 


205 


with the girl he loved. But, true to his promise, he 
said nothing that would suggest the great happiness 
her nearness gave to him. 

“Where away now?” Benjy sang out as the old 
coach swung out between the high iron gates and 
started along the broad highway. 

Where, indeed? 


206 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


CHAPTER XXII. 

ON A CLUE HUNT. 

“Over the hills to the poor-house 
The ancient stage-coach rolled, 

Filled with a priceless treasure 
More than ever in bags of gold.” 

Benjy chanted as the equipage slowed up when 
the faithful old horse started up the first grade on 
the way to Torrence. 

“I suppose we ought to rise and make bows,” 
Babs told him, “but if we did we’d be hurled over 
on your side. I don’t believe even an acrobat could 
stand erect more than two seconds in this lurching 
old coach.” 

“Betcha I can.” Benjy arose, braced himself 
with widely-spread feet, but, unluckily for him, his 
back was toward the horses, and so he did not see 
the sudden dip in the road which Sam and Sally 
suddenly decided to take on a run. The result was 


VIRGINIA'S ROMANCE 


207 


that Benjy was thrown backward and might have 
had a hard fall had it not been for Malcolm, who 
leaped from his corner to the rescue. Being a giant 
in comparison to the younger boy, he sat him down 
next to Barbara imploring her to use her influence 
in making him stay there. But Benjy sat back, 
folded his arms and grinned delightedly. “All the 
kings' oxen and all the kings' men couldn't drag me 
to the other side again," he chanted. “I was wait¬ 
ing for Babs to invite me to sit next her, but, being 
as she didn't, I'm mighty grateful to you for your 
friendly assistance." 

“Kiddie, be quiet one minute," Malcolm implored. 
“I want to listen to the singing of the mountain 
birds." 

But the non-crushable youth replied: “To the 
creakings of the old coach, I guess, you mean. This 
equipage moans and groans so that I can hardly 
hear myself think.” Then turning to the young 
hostess, who was gazing out of the back window 
apparently unconscious of their existence, Benjy 
called: “I say, Eleanor, if you want me to, I can 
tell you what you are thinking. I’m studying to be 
a professional mind-reader." 

To the surprise of her companions, the girl ad¬ 
dressed flushed. 


208 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


“I thought so,” the cruel Benjy said. 

"I’ll put him out on the back step, girls, if you 
wish me to,” Malcolm offered. 

“No need for such extreme measures,” Eleanor 
laughingly replied, “for, if I am not mistaken, Tor¬ 
rence is around the next curve.” 

And she was not, for the scattered hamlet was soon 
seen partly on the mountain side and partly in*the 
valley below. 

Eleanor could not explain even to herself why 
at the sight of what Benjy called “The Mixed Em¬ 
porium,” her heart began to beat double time. “Of 
course it’s because I believe Jean Swiggett might 
be able to help me find Hugh Ward,” she was 
thinking when the coach came to a sudden stand¬ 
still. 

“What is it? A hold-up?” Benjy was inquiring 
when Peyton swung down to say: “Mr. Howitt was 
just telling us that there’s a cross country road just 
below us that cuts off a mile or so. Shall I direct 
him to take that or do you particularly want to pass 
the store?” 

“Oh yes, indeed, we must stop at the store. You 
know I promised Mrs. Treadwell to ask Mrs. Swig- 
gett’s advice before venturing on the roads of the 
second range.” 




VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


209 


“And then, too, Jean might be at home,” Barbara 
chimed in. 

Because of the teasing Benjy, Eleanor had not 
wished to add that as one of her reasons for wish¬ 
ing to visit the store, and yet she had to acknowl¬ 
edge to herself that it was the big reason really. 

Again the coach was swinging from side to side 
of the road high above the valley. 

As they neared the old log building which had 
been occupied by the Swiggetts for so many years, 
they peered eagerly ahead. 

Peyton leaned down to call through an open win¬ 
dow: “Let’s all halloo; maybe Jean is there.” 

And so the boys leaned out and trumpeted 
through hands held megaphone-wise, and the girls 
in clear musical trebles added bird-like notes to the 
call. The door was opening, but it was the stout 
comely Mrs. Swiggett who appeared nodding and 
beaming. 

“Wall, now, it’s good to see such a merry parcel 
of young folks in these here mountains once again. 
It’s a long spell since there’s been any gay goin’s 
on. I do wish my son Jean was at home to be en¬ 
joyin’ the fun with you all, but he and his pa’s been 
delayed, I’m thinkin’. It’s sometimes powerful 
puzzlin’ to select stock that’s just the kind we’ll need 


210 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


to last over all winter.” Then the good woman 
added: “Aren't you all coming in?” 

She had descended to the road and Eleanor told 
her their plans. Malcolm wrote the Spanish names 
in his notebook and they proceeded on their way 
when Mrs. Swiggett assured them that the roads 
were much better this year than last. 

The wife of the storekeeper stood a long time on 
her front porch watching the coach as it descended 
the valley road. The young people waved back to 
her, and then, as they were passing the “Home for 
the Aged and Infirm,” Barbara called their atten¬ 
tion to the great rock which lay, not only fallen but 
split in two pieces of nearly equal size. “Well,” 
Malcolm said, “your prophet Mr. Henk Walley 
failed, didn't he, for that rock has been down for 
nearly a week and nothing unusual has happened ?” 

“How do you know?” It was Barbara who 
challenged him. “We haven't seen a single out¬ 
side newspaper since we came to this place. There 
may be headlines on every paper in the country 
printed in red ink telling of some great catastrophe 
which occurred when this rock fell, and how would 
we know about it ?” 

“True, but didn't the matron say that the belief 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


211 


was that something would happen locally that would 
put this place on the map, so to speak ?” 

“That’s right, Babs,” Eleanor smilingly told her 
little friend. “We’ll have to agree that Malcolm is 
right and Mr. Henk Walley wrong.’’ 

“Also, that’s probably why Mr. Howitt’s news¬ 
paper bears such an ancient date. It’s probably the 
last one that found its way into Torrence.” 

The valley road soon began the ascent of the 
second range, then again the coach stopped. This 
time Peyton was seen assisting Virginia to the 
ground. Then they both appeared at the back door 
of the stage. 

“How come?” Benjy inquired. 

“Don’t know,” Peyton smilingly replied; “but 
our ancient driver suggested that perhaps it would 
be better if we were all inside before he started up 
the next grade. Of course we could do no less than 
comply. 

“Gee whiliker! I wonder what that means.” 
Benjy was trying to peer ahead at the road but 
evidently a wall of rocks prevented further progress. 

“My candid opinion is that the old driver wants 
all the elbow room he can have when he drives his 
team up the mountain-road to which we are now 
coming.” 


212 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


This surmise was evidently correct, for, when 
they were all seated inside of the coach, four on one 
side and three on the other, the two horses were 
again started, but they picked their way so 
cautiously that Eleanor found herself almost wish¬ 
ing that she had not brought her guests on what 
might be a really dangerous ride. 

“Great guns!” Benjy was staring out of the small 
front window. “We certainly aren’t going to try 
to round that rock on a ledge that isn’t more’n an 
inch wider than the coach.” 

The girls became panicky and were about to rise 
and all push to the front window when Malcolm 1 
held up a detaining hand, saying: “Don’t move. 
That might change the balance of the coach and it 
seems to be all right as it is.” 

It was indeed a terrifying moment, but when the 
jutting rock was passed the road widened and Benjy 
sank back with a truly comical sigh. “Babs,” he 
said, leaning toward her, “please see how many 
white hairs that gave me. I’m not kidding any 
when I say that my heart was in my mouth. I hope 
we don’t have many more such hair-breadth escapes.” 

Malcolm looked anxious. As he was taller than 
the others he could see out of the small front win¬ 
dow without moving. He saw what seemed to be 


VIRGINIA'S ROMANCE 


213 


another wall of rock directly in front of them, but 
luckily, as they neared it, a tunnel appeared and 
although they were plunged into absolute darkness 
for two minutes, that wasn’t as terrifying as the 
former experience had been. 

“If we don’t find a clue to your friend Hugh 
Ward after all this perilous ride,” Benjy began, but 
Malcolm interrupted with: “Ben, old boy, you’re 
having the time of your young life; you know that 
you are. As for fear, you don’t know the meaning 
of the word. Why, I’ve seen you ride a bucking 
broncho over a ledge of a mountain at home that 
would make the one we just crossed seem like a 
wide boulevard.” 

Benjy grinned. “Gee whiliker, so I did! Say, 
didn’t I get thrills that day, enough to content the 
average person for the rest of his natural life.” 

“Well, you’re not an average person,” Babs 
spoke as though she were defending her pal. 
Everyone laughed, which loosened the tension and, 
moreover, the road seemed to be wide enough to 
permit even two vehicles to pass each other, and so 
the girls, no longer afraid, looked out of the open 
windows and exclaimed at the panorama of ma¬ 
jestic scenery that lay beyond and below them. An¬ 
other curve and they found themselves on a wide 


214 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


plateau and in front of them an estate of such un¬ 
expected beauty that they could not but believe that 
they had been transported to some other land. 
Long rows of graceful Euchalyptus trees marked 
the border and overhung the entrance. Three long¬ 
haired collie dogs raced to meet them, whether with 
intent to greet them or defy them the girls could 
not tell. They circled round and round the coach 
urging Sam and Salley to a trot, and so down a 
wide avenue, bordered by Euchalyptus trees, they 
went. Between the trunks they could catch glimpses 
of acres and acres of fruit trees; apples nearly ripe 
glowed among dark green leaves. Then they came 
to wide rose gardens and, at last, the coach stopped 
in front of an old-fashioned Spanish ranch-house. 
It was one-story with a patio. There were case¬ 
ment windows that opened outward. Fragrant 
flowering vines grew over the house to the very 
roof, and about the grounds there were semi- 
tropical trees, some of them in bloom, and strangely 
enough there were, by contrast, tall dark, pointed 
pines. 

The Spanish gentleman whom they had seen be¬ 
fore appeared and, smiling hospitably, approached 
the coach, which had come to a standstill. The 
three dogs had been silenced by his single word of 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


215 


command, but they stayed close to their master 
ready to leap if harm were to threaten him. Mr. 
Howitt had descended with much effort and the 
young people emerged from the coach. The old 
driver was well-known to the Spanish gentleman, 
it was evident from the way in which they greeted 
each other. The girls were to learn that the man¬ 
ner of Senor Juan Rodriguez was always courtly. 

Although Mr. Howitt explained their presence in 
a language they could not understand, it was in most 
perfect English that the owner of the mountain 
estate turned to welcome them saying: “My old ac¬ 
quaintance tells me that you wished to see me, he 
believes, for some reason which he does not know. 
But, first, will you not come within the patio and let 
me serve you refreshment? It is with regret that I 
tell you that my wife and grand-daughter have this 
day departed for San Francisco, where they go each 
summer and where I shall join them later.” 

As he talked the young people followed him into 
the patio, where it was delightfully cool. The floor 
was of big polished tiles laid unevenly on the ground, 
but in the center there was a wide pool in which 
iragrant pond lilies were growing and in the midst 
of which stood a fountain that showered tinkling 


216 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


drops of water over the ever-rippled waters of the 
poo-1. 

There were deep comfortable chairs about the 
patio, some in sociable groups, and to one of these, 
where also stood a small table, their host led them. 
He had seemed to give no signal, but as soon as 
they were seated a Mexican youth in spotless white 
appeared with cool looking bottles which the elderly 
gentleman assured the girls contained iced fruit 
juice. “Every fruit that will grow here, and I be¬ 
lieve we have them all, are crushed and their juices 
mingled. This is the result.” He held up his glass 
bowing gallantly to the girls who felt, and no won¬ 
der, that they were living in a book that told of the 
early days of California. 

It was indeed a delicious drink and they told him 
so. Then when the glasses had been removed, 
Eleanor explained the real object of their visit. To 
her delight the elderly gentleman leaned forward, 
with pleasure depicted on his dark, handsome face. 

“Do I understand that you are friends of Hugh 
Ward ? Then indeed are you welcome, for, though 
it is many many years since he was here, I never 
knew a more gallant American youth. He came 
here often, more years ago than I care to count. 
My overseer’s father was his guide, although at that 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


217 


time my Jose was not yet born. Hugh Ward and 
I,” the old gentleman added reminiscently, “were 
just the same age, strangely enough, born the same 
day and year. Now tell me his message to me.” 

“But Senor, we came to learn, if we could, more 
about Hugh Ward, who was a dear friend of my 
Aunt Myra’s,” Eleanor told him. 

The expression on the face of the Spanish 
gentleman was one of regret. “We know nothing 
of him,” he said. “I often asked Jose, the father 
of my overseer, if he had heard aught of the lad. 
Indeed, long after he had ceased to be young, I had 
hoped that he would again visit our mountain 
ranch, which he had so enjoyed, but he did not 
come. True, we heard of his elaborate wedding 
because it was in the San Francisco papers, and in 
many others without doubt, but he sent no word of it 
to the mountains. I could not understand, for he 
had been with me at my wedding and had sent a 
gift that we still treasure to little Inez when she 
was born. I well remember the day that he came 
to say goodbye. He seemed infinitely sad, which 
seemed curious, since the message he had to tell is 
usually one that brings great joy. Tm going back 
to the city to be married, Juan. I cannot stop to 
see Senora and little Inez, good friend. I couldn’t 


218 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


stand it. Goodbye!* Then he rode away, never 
to return. I have sometimes feared that he was to 
marry someone for whom he did not care. It has 
troubled me often.” 

Then impulsively Eleanor told the sad sweet 
story to this old friend of Hugh Ward. 

“If detectives have been unable to find him, he 
must have died in a foreign land, Miss Eleanor,” 
the old gentleman said. 

The young people soon departed and to their joy 
they found in their coach gifts of fruit and several 
bottles of the delicious beverage, also a bundle of 
magazines. It was not until the Mira Cielo was 
reached that Eleanor said conclusively: “I am now 
going to give up trying to find that wonderful old 
man Hugh Ward. Because of all that I have heard 
about him, I, too, love him, but as Senor Juan 
said, if San Francisco detectives failed to find him, 
he cannot be found.” 

Having left the coach near the stables, where 
the boys remained to assist in unharnessing, the 
girls walked slowly and somewhat wearily toward 
the house, when they heard Peyton shouting ex¬ 
citedly. “Eleanor, look! Someone is coming on 
horse-back. Isn’t it Jean Swiggett?” 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


219 


CHAPTER XXIII. 

THE LAST CLUE FOUND. 

It was evident that Jean saw no one but Eleanor 
when he leaped from his horse and went toward 
her with both hands extended. The other girls, 
having been in advance, slipped unobserved into 
the house and the boys taking the hint, decided that 
a dip in old ocean was what at that moment they 
most desired, and so it was that the two found 
themselves quite alone. 

“You’ve been away longer than you expected, 
haven’t you, Jean?” Eleanor felt conscious that the 
lad had something of great importance to tell her. 
Could it be about Hugh Ward? Nothing else, she 
assured herself, would interest her greatly. 

“Why, I don’t know; have I?” Then leaving 
the commonplace he pleaded, “Eleanor, please let 
us go somewhere, away from the house. I want 
to tell you the story of my life.” 

“Why, Jean, I know it, don’t I? You are Mr. 
Swiggett’s son and—” 


220 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


“Yes, of course.” They were walking toward 
the group of live oaks under which two inviting 
hammocks and where there also stood wide-armed 
rustic chairs, and all unoccupied. They seated 
themselves in chairs that were near each other. 

The lad’s fine face was flushed as from an ex¬ 
citement the girl could not understand. She mar¬ 
veled (as she always did when they were together)' 
at the delicately chiseled features. Not that Jean’s 
face was weak—it was strong—but one would have 
thought that back of him lay generations of refine¬ 
ment and culture instead of the uncouth, though 
kindly ancestry that the girl knew was his. 

“I’m going to begin in the middle of my nar¬ 
rative and tell you, if I may, that I had all my life 
felt a sense of loneliness that only two people 
seemed to banish; one was your aunt, who permitted 
me to call her my aunt, the other one is you. I 
knew that I was in danger of caring more for you 
than I should, and I struggled against it, since I 
jvas but the son of a mountaineer.” 

Eleanor had leaned forward, emotion transform¬ 
ing her face. She placed a long, slim hand on the 
brown one that rested on the arm of his chair. 
“Jean, what your father is matters not at all. I do 
want your friendship, partly because you knew my 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


221 


dear Aunt Myra and partly because I never knew 
a boy who seemed more congenial. Please don’t 
tell me that, because of your parentage, you are go¬ 
ing to take that friendship away from me.” 

The lad hesitated and looked keenly, inquiringly 
at the flushed face of the girl before him. Then he 
asked a question which surprised them both. “But 
you wouldn’t want to marry me,” then, before she 
could reply, he had hurried on with, “nor would I 
ask you to, Eleanor. However, if you were but a; 
poor girl of whom I would be asking only love, 
then I would ask it, because we would both be 
poor.” 

The girl’s voice was tense. “Jean,” she said, “if 
you do love me, if you want to marry me, that is, 
if I were poor, I will gladly give up my share in 
this estate. What are acres, however beautiful, 
compared to the wonderful companionship that 
love brings?” It was hard for her to understand 
the lad. He seemed to be radiantly happy and yet 
he was saying: “I could not and shall not permit 
you to do that, but, Oh Eleanor, now that I know 
that you care, I’m going to tell you the story of my 
life from the beginning: 

“It was my father and I who were lost in the 
mountains on that long-ago stormy night. Since 


222 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


we two were alone in the worst blizzard, Daddy 
Swiggett said, that ever visited these parts, no one 
will ever know what happened. Even the miner, 
whom they called Pick Ax Alek, knew only that 
he heard a voice moaning through the storm, calling, 
‘Lost, Lost, L-o-s-t!’ Dear friend, I fear that I, a 
wee child, was what my father had lost. He might 
have saved himself had he been able to find me, but 
Daddy Swiggett now believes that he groped about 
calling and searching until he met his death. He 
may have fallen over one of the sheer cliffs, of 
which there are many in these mountains. Pick Ax 
Alek, as you know, found my father’s gun, but it 
was Daddy Swiggett who found me. I had fallen 
into a ravine and lay on a soft bed of moss. He 
thought I was dead, and days passed before I fully 
regained consciousness. After that he tried in 
every way that he knew to find out to whom I be¬ 
longed but could not. Then he and his good wife 
legally adopted me. It was not until we found the 
gun, which he recalled had been lost in that same 
blizzard, that he thought it might be in some way 
a clue to my parentage. That was why he sent me 
to the address that my own father had in his 
desperation burned on the wooden handle. The 
good people to whom I took it, as you recall, recog- 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


223 


nized it as being the one that had belonged to their 
master and they implored me to tell them more of 
him and of ‘Little Pigeon/ as they called the child, 
but I, of course, knew nothing more than Dad had 
told me, which, at that time, was little more than 
the story of the frightened miner. 

“However, when I returned and told Dad what 
they had said, he acted very strangely. ‘And so 
there were two lost in that storm/ he cried. ‘A 
child as well as a man. How old was the child, 
Jean? Tell me, what did he look like?’ 

“I was puzzled indeed at my Dad’s very evident 
interest and excitement and I said: ‘Sir, the best 
way to know how the child looked is to visit the 
home of the old servants in the city, for, on their 
wall they have a painting of the little fellow/ 

“To my amazement, my father declared that on 
the following morning we would go to the big city. 
‘Say nothing of our real reason to your Ma/ he 
cautioned me, ‘I don’t want to trouble her yet It’s 
like to break her heart if it’s true.’ 

“You can imagine how puzzled I was by my Dad’s 
most unusual behavior, and the very next morning 
we started for the city, having decided to stay long 
enough to buy stock needed for the winter, thus 
saving another and later trip to town. I hastily 


224 


VIRGINIA'S ROMANCE 


wrote a few lines to you, by way of explanation. 
Do you know, Eleanor, I just dreaded leaving you 
even for a few days. I had no intention of ever 
telling you how much I cared, but I knew that our 
days together were numbered and I did not want to 
lose one of them, nor was I as greatly interested in 
the story of the gun as my Dad seemed to be, but 
I could not refuse to go with him. In due time we 
arrived at our destination. It was late afternoon 
when we were applying for admission to the base¬ 
ment of the handsome grey stone house, which looked 
so desolate with its boarded-up doors and windows. 
However, the snowy muslin curtains fluttering at the 
open basement windows and flowering geraniums on 
the sills took away the uncanny feeling I had when 
first we entered the court-yard. It was the ‘young 
son/ as the old lady had called the man of about 
sixty, who admitted us. 

“ ‘Mother’, he called toward the kitchen, ‘here’s 
the lad come back; the one who brought us the mas¬ 
ter’s gun.’ 

“The little woman entered, wiping her hands on 
her apron, her face eager. Anxiously she asked me: 
‘Have you news, that you are come. Do you know 
ought of Master or “Little Pigeon”?’ 

“I was about to say that we did not when my Dad, 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


225 


having at once glanced about the walls, uttered a 
cry, whether of pleasure or of dismay I could not tell, 
and strode across the room and stood beneath the 
painting. Then tragically, dramatically, he pointed 
at me. Eleanor, I shall never forget the look on my 
father’s face, as he cried in a voice that sounded very 
unlike his own: ‘There he is! There stands the lad 
that you call “Little Pigeon.” ’ 

“Then, to the surprise of us all, the little woman, 
her face aglow, cried: T knew it! Myric, didn’t I 
tell you so?’ And she had me in her arms sobbing 
and laughing and telling me how in the long ago she 
had cared for me after my mother died. 

“I did not suppose, Eleanor, that the human heart 
could be so filled with varying emotions and all at 
once. My first thought, I am glad to be able to say, 
honestly was one of pity for my poor old foster- 
father, for no real Dad could have been more kind. 
His face was ashen gray and he had dropped into a 
wooden chair and was wiping his forehead with his 
big red handkerchief. 

“The little old woman turned in the direction of 
my gaze and she, too, understood. ‘Go to him,’ she 
said gently, and, Eleanor, I went, and kneeling I 
took the rough, hard hand that had worked to save 
for me, and I said: ‘Dad, this isn’t going to make 


226 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


any difference with us. My own father would want 
me to love you just as much as I do. Think how 
grateful he must be, because you saved my life and 
have made for me a real home and a happy one.* 

“The old woman nodded. ‘Yes, yes, that is true. 
I know the noble, gentle nature of our master, and 
were he to appear this minute those are the words 
that he would speak/ my own father’s faithful old 
housekeeper said, and her son Myric echoed her 
words. 

“ ‘But you’ll want to stay here in this fine house 
now, and live like a gentleman should. I always 
knew you were not of the same clay that Ma and I 
are, and I’ve been dreadin’ the time you’d think so, 
too, the time when you’d be ashamed of us/ 

“I was hurt, terribly hurt, and dear old Dad knew 
it. ‘Forgive me, son,’ he said, ‘I’d oughtn’t to’ve 
said that. I knew better, deep in the heart of me, 
but I don’t want to deprive you of all that you should 
have; that is yours by right.’ 

“Luckily the tenseness of the situation was saved 
by that dear little old woman. Eleanor, I want you 
to know her. She suddenly sprang up, and sniffing 
the air, she exclaimed: ‘Myric I do believe those bis¬ 
cuits are burning and I want them to be just right. 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


227 


now that “Little Pigeon” and his Dad are here for 
supper/ 

“After that we were not again as dramatic. We 
all went into the kitchen and Dad seemed to be 
greatly relieved when I told him that I intended to 
return with him to the mountains but that, if my 
identity were legally established, I might return to 
my father’s home when it was time for me to attend 
school in the city. ‘That will be heaps better than 
living in a boarding house as I had to last year/ 
Dad agreed with me, and then the two men discussed 
how we would best go about establishing my legal 
right to the inheritance which they told me had been 
accumulating through the years. It was decided 
that my father’s lawyer should be visited. The next 
day, in accordance with this plan, we all four went 
to his offices. It was the old housekeeper’s sugges¬ 
tion that I be sent into the inner office alone, while 
the others remain outside. She wanted to try a little 
experiment. And so, when the door opened and a 
boy in uniform announced that the lawyer would 
see us, I alone rose and entered the inner office. I 
saw an elderly man busily consulting a large volume. 
When he looked up, he leaped to his feet and held out 
both hands. Then he stepped back and rubbed his 


228 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


eyes as though he felt confused. Again he looked 
at me. 

“ ‘I can't understand it, lad,' he said. ‘I haven't 
any idea who you are, but I almost welcomed you 
by the name of a boyhood friend of mine. I never 
saw so close a resemblance.' He said no more, for 
the door to the outer office, which had been ajar, was 
suddenly opened, and in came the little old house¬ 
keeper. ‘I knew it!' she cried exultingly, ‘That's all 
we need to identify him. This boy is our “Little 
Pigeon." 9 

“And so in this rather informal way they decided 
to consider my claim to my father’s home and income 
as legal. Then I was wild to be away. I wanted to 
return to the mountains to tell you of my love, for, 
after all, I belonged to your own people and I was 
not a pauper, but I remained two days longer with 
Dad to buy the winter stock for his store. At last 
we came, and although I only arrived in Torrence an 
hour ago, I delayed not a minute in coming to you." 

Then, flushed and eager, the lad leaned forward 
and took the hands of the girl. “Are you glad, 
Eleanor; not that I am your equal (no one can be 
that), but at least in a position to tell you how much 
I care?" 

To his surprise the girl's answer was quite un- 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


229 


expected. “I am sorry that I cannot give up my 
share of Aunt Myra’s estate to prove how much I 
want to care,” she said. Then with mischievous in¬ 
tent, she continued: “But I have not told you of my 
midnight visit to the cabin of Aunt Myra’s house¬ 
keeper, and, Jean, I’ll never be able to marry you, 
because I promised her that I would marry Hugh 
Ward.” 

“Will you, Eleanor, will you keep that promise to 
old Mrs. Howitt?” 

She drew back amazed, not understanding. 
“Why, Jean, what do you mean? How can I?” 

Again he caught both of her hands. “Darling 
girl, you can; because I am Hugh Ward.” 


230 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


CHAPTER XXIV. 

THE CLOSED ROOM. 

And then, as though further identification might 
be required, when these two, summoned by the lunch¬ 
eon bell, went within, Mrs. Treadwell beckoned to 
Eleanor from the kitchen doorway. Believing that 
the housekeeper wished her advice about some culin¬ 
ary matter, the girl excused herself from the guests 
who were assembling in the long sunny dining room 
and slipped out. She could not understand the ex¬ 
pression on the face of the unusually placid woman. 
She drew the girl to the farthest side of the room 
and spoke in a low voice. “Miss Eleanor/’ she said, 
“the strangest thing has happened. An hour ago 
when I went down to the cottage to see if all was 
well with my mother, I found her in a greatly ex¬ 
cited condition. Fearing that she was worse, I 
hurried to her. She was sitting in her usual place 
in the wide bow window that she might watch, if she 
wished, what went on out-of-doors. 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


231 


“ ‘Mother/ I said, ‘what is it? Has something 
frightened you?* But it was a beaming face that 
she turned toward me, and, Miss Eleanor, her eyes 
were clear and looked straight at me as they always 
do when her mind is not rambling. ‘The Saints be 
praised/ she said, ‘that I have lived to see this day. 
Hugh Ward has come back and now he and Miss 
Myra will be married. You know she promised me 
that she would/ 

“I knew she was mistaken, of course, but I said: 
‘When did he come, Mother?’ I thought, to agree 
with her might quiet her. 

“ ‘He rode past the window just a few moments 
ago/ she replied joyfully. ‘He was on horse-back 
and he bowed to me just as he used to do when he 
came before.’ 

“I had seen Jean Swiggett ride in just before I 
went to my mother’s cottage, and so, of course, I 
knew who it was that she was mistaking for Hugh 
Ward who, with your Aunt Myra, seems to occupy 
her every conscious thought. But, Miss Eleanor, 
what do you think caused my mother to be so con¬ 
vinced that the son of the store-keeper is the one you 
are seeking?” 

“Perhaps because he is,” the girl replied radiantly, 
and it was then the turn of the housekeeper to be 


232 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


amazed. “J ean * s Hugh Ward,” Eleanor continued 
“After lunch I will tell you the whole story and, too, 
may we then have the key to the closed front room ?” 

“It is unbelievable!” the housekeeper exclaimed. 
“It isn’t possible. Hugh Ward must be an elderly 
man.” 

“The one who was engaged to my Aunt Myra 
would have been had he lived. You have heard the 
story your father tells of the miner who was fright¬ 
ened in a blizzard many years ago by hearing some¬ 
one call, Tost! Lost! L-o-s-t!’ ” The good woman 
nodded, wondering how that long-ago tale could 
have any bearing on the subject they were discussing. 

“Well, it happened that at about that time the wife 
of Hugh Ward died and his housekeeper said that, 
soon thereafter, he left home telling them only that 
he had a dear good friend who lived in the mountain 
country and that he wanted her to learn to love his 
little boy. And so he started out with the child on 
horseback, but was lost in the storm, but I must go 
back now, Mrs. Treadwell, or my friends will be 
starved.” 

“Yes, yes, do go!” The housekeeper seemed to 
be struggling to comprehend what she had heard and 
adjust it to the common place. “How happy mother 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


233 


will be. I only hope her memory has not lapsed be¬ 
fore I can tell her.” 

When Eleanor entered the dining-room, she heard 
merry laughter and was glad to see that Benjy was 
entertaining the group with his nonsense. Jean and 
Malcolm, however, stood apart and were talking 
more seriously of cattle raising, and Eleanor rightly 
surmised that the young ranchmen would not long 
be content to remain away from Arizona. 

The girls turned to greet their hostess and Babs 
exclaimed: “Why, Eleanor, how beautiful you look! 
I never saw you so flushed and—what is the word ?” 
She turned imploringly toward Virginia, who sup¬ 
plied “Radiant!” 

“That is the way I feel,” was the reply, “and if 
you will all listen I will tell you the reason.” 

There was no need to ask for silence. Even Benjy 
had stilled his gay banter when he heard Eleanor’s 
voice. There was a glad note in it that compelled 
attention. 

“What has happened?” he inquired, “This isn’t 
your wedding day, is it, or any little thing like that ?” 

“It’s a truly wonderful day, for on it we have 
solved the mystery. We know who was lost on the 
night of that terrible long-ago blizzard, and we know 
who is Hugh Ward.” 


234 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


“Eleanor! You’re joking!” 

“Why, how can you know, didn’t we visit that 
mountain ranch this very morning to find a clue 
and we found none?” 

“And you have seen no one since except our friend 
Jean.” 

They all turned to look at the lad and the some^ 
thing in his face they had never seen there before 
caused Virginia to exclaim: “Jean found out the 
needed clue for you when he was in the city. I just 
know that he did.” 

Then Eleanor astonished them all by advancing, 
holding out her hand to the lad and exclaiming: 
“Friends, permit me to introduce Hugh Ward, 
Junior.” 

Then again the tale had to be told and Mrs. Tread¬ 
well, coming in with the bullion, begged the young 
people to do their visiting at the table, as the lunch 
would be drying up in the oven if they delayed any 
longer, and so they took their places, scarcely able 
to eat at first because of the many questions that had 
to be asked and answered. 

When, at last, the whole story had been told and 
retold and Jean and Eleanor had both been con¬ 
gratulated (not on their engagement, for they had 
decided to tell no one of that), the lunch drew to a 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


235 


close and again Mrs. Treadwell appeared and 
beckoned to Eleanor. 

“Mother is unusually normal today,” she said, 
“and when I told her what had happened, she seemed 
to realize, as she did on your first visit, that you are 
a niece of Miss Myra and not Miss Myra herself, 
and that Jean Swiggett is the son of Hugh Ward, 
and she wants to see you both. She has the key to 
the closed front room and she would like to give it 
to you.” 

And so, leaving the excited group on the wide 
front veranda, the two went down the walk together 
and toward the cottage near the great iron gates. 
The little old woman had on her best cap with a 
lavender bow in honor of the wonderful occasion, 
and, to the girl's joy, her beaming eyes were clear, 
proving that her mind was in no way wandering. 
She held out both of her shaking, softly wrinkled 
hands, and, in a wavering voice, she said: “Bless 
you, my children. I would that Miss Myra might 
have lived to see this day. She knew there was a 
little son. She had a letter from Hugh Ward tell¬ 
ing her that his wife had died and begging her to 
welcome his little son into her life and love, even if 
she could not care for him. I’ll never be forgetting 
the joy in Miss Myra’s face that day. *He’s com- 


236 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


ing back to me, and now it's right for him to come/ 
she told me. But he never came, and because of 
Miss Myra’s pride she never wrote to ask why, but 
she loved to think of the boy who was growing up 
to be just like his father, and then one day came a 
picture of you, Miss Eleanor, and Miss Myra 
brought it to show me. 

“ ‘Why/ I said, ‘it’s a picture of you when you 
were a girl.’ ‘No, it’s a picture of my niece.’ Then 
she said: ‘I wish Hugh Ward’s son might be a friend 
of Eleanor’s.’ 

“It must have been after that she made that queer 
will.” Then from her deep pocket, she drew the 
key. “Now go together to the room that is closed.” 

“Thank you, dear Mrs. Howitt,” Eleanor stooped 
and kissed the little old woman, who then held up 
two trembling hands, as she said that she wished to 
give them her blessing; and so, together, they knelt 
for one moment that seemed to them sacred. Then 
she bade them to go. 

There were tears in the eyes of the girl as they 
>vere lifted to the lad at her side as they walked 
slowly back along the flower bordered walk, and yet 
there was also radiant joy in their limpid depths. 
Luckily, they did not hear the mischievous Benjy 
softly whistling: “Here comes the bride.” 



Then from her deep pocket she drew the key. 
‘‘Now ,go together to the room that is closed.” 

(Page 236 ) ( Virginia’s Romance .) 






























VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


237 


“We have the key,” Eleanor said to Virginia; then 
fo the others, “we want you all to go with us.” 

And so the two led the way up the broad, softly- 
carpeted stairs and the others followed. Even Benjy 
felt awed. 

The door opened and they stood on the threshold 
of a lovely old-fashioned bedroom, the sort of a room 
that would have delighted the heart of a girl of long 
ago. The canopy over the bed and the coverlet 
seemed to be a silvery cobweb, underneath which 
glowed a deep warm rose color. The draperies and 
upholstery, too, were of silver and rose. On the bed 
lay a group of articles. One was an exquisite gown 
of a fashion that was long past. Near it was the 
picture of herself that Eleanor had sent to her aunt, 
and beside that was a dagueretype of Miss Myra 
when she was eighteen and another of Hugh Ward 
when he was a young man about the age of Jean. 

And this was still another identification, for, had 
they not known the story, the young people would 
have thought it an old-fashioned portrait of the 
friend who stood then at their side holding the hand 
of Eleanor in a tight clasp. 

Eleanor found also an envelope which had been 
addressed to her at the time the will was made. 


238 


VIRGINIA'S ROMANCE 


This she slipped into her pocket to read when she 
and Jean were alone. 

There were many other things of interest in the 
room, for in the clothes-press and in the drawers 
they found many beautiful garments that had never 
been worn—the things upon which the seamstress 
had been sewing when she told Miss Myra the gos¬ 
sip that had so changed her whole life. 

The young people did not stay long. Eleanor 
wanted to be alone with Jean that they might read 
the letter that had been left for them. 

Virginia, realizing this, suggested that the others 
take a walk along the beach. 

When they were gone, the two, who were feeling 
too tensely, as yet, to join with the others in their 
merry making, slipped into the long darkened living 
room and going to the painting of Miss Myra, they 
stood there in silence, hands still clasped, gazing with 
grateful love into the face that seemed to be smiling 
with a new joy and contentment down upon them. 

Then, seating themselves on a sofa near a vine* 
shaded window, they read the message. In it Miss 
Myra wrote that if in the future the two young peo¬ 
ple met and loved each other, she wanted Eleanor 
to be married in the gown that she had hoped to 
wear in the long ago. 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


239 


“I will, dear Aunt Myra/’ the girl unconsciously 
reached her arms out toward the painting, then lifted 
a glowing face to the lad at her side. Tenderly, and 
for the first time, he kissed her. 


240 


VIRGINIA'S ROMANCE 


CHAPTER XXV. 

FAREWELLS. 

Although the young people, seconding Eleanor’s 
invitation, begged Jean to remain with them for sev¬ 
eral days he shook his head, saying that his foster- 
father and mother, he well knew, were yearning for 
him to return to them and so, near twilight, he rode 
away. 

However, the very next day he returned, bearing 
a bulging mail pouch. “Letters and papers for every 
one!” he called merrily. The tenseness of the day 
before was gone and the young people had resumed 
their natural manner. 

“Oh, goodie good!” Babs cried, and catching 
Benjy by the hand she led him to the spot under a 
spreading live oak where Jean had dismounted and 
where Eleanor was pouring the contents of the bag 
on a rustic table. Idly Peyton picked up a San Fran¬ 
cisco paper and, after a glance at its glaring headline, 
he uttered a cry that caused them all to turn and look 


VIRGINIA'S ROMANCE 


241 


at him. “Old Henk Walley was right,” he laughed, 
“and, after all, it was his own prophecy that caused 
the story to be in the paper, partly, at least, for listen 
to this: 

“'Inmate of Poor Farm utters a prophecy, the ful¬ 
filment of which conies with the solution of one of 
the city's greatest mysteries, what became of Hugh 
Ward, millionaire philanthropist / " 

Then followed the story, much as the young peo¬ 
ple knew it. What they had not known was that a 
nation-wide search had been made for the missing 
man. The little mountain hamlet of Torrence was 
so remote however and news of the outside world 
came to the inhabitants so seldom that Mr. Swiggett 
had never even heard of it. 

“I wish Mr. Henk Walley might see that head¬ 
line !” Babs declared. Malcolm opened the Douglas 
paper which had been sent to him and there again 
was the story, and so the prophecy had indeed been 
fulfilled. 

When the interest in this had subsided, the young 
people waited eagerly the sorting of the letters. Mal¬ 
colm received several, and, as they were all post¬ 
marked Silver Creek, Virginia knew that they were 
relating to V. M., but, when she looked at the 


242 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


bronzed face under which was the glow of returned 
health, she decided that it would do more good than 
harm to allow him to read them than try to persuade 
him to wait until the month was up. 

‘‘Oh, yes, I nearly forgot. Here’s a telegram for 
Benjy. The station agent’s son brought it up early 
this morning.” Jean handed the lad a yellow en¬ 
velope. The boy’s first thought was of his mother. 
But Babs had hurried to his side and was whisper¬ 
ing: “It’s from Dean Craig, I’m just ever so sure.” 
And it was. Just a line which said: “Benjamin 
Wilson is hereby appointed in charge of the button 
department.” 

The boy looked dismayed. “Babs,” he said in a 
low aside, “that won’t help me any. I never sewed 
a button on anything in my whole life.” 

“Your mother and I will teach you. Oh I’m so 
proud of you, Benjy. I like you better now that 
you’re going to amount to something, than I ever did 
before in all my life.” 

Eleanor had a letter from her father saying that 
he would be starting West in a fortnight, and Bar¬ 
bara had one from Betsy Clossen telling her that 
everything had been arranged for them to be room¬ 
mates at Vine Haven the following year. 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


243 


“You and I may have the cupalo room if we wish. 
Write me P.D.Q. if you would like to share it with 
me. Dicky Taylor’s coming back, and so are Cora 
and Dora and a lot of the old crowd. Tell Virg, 
though, that Miss Snoopins won’t be there. She’s 
inherited a little legacy from, goodness knows where. 
I don’t, and she’s going back to a small farm she 
owns with some little cripple boy she seems to have 
adopted. Virg knows all about it, and she’ll be so 
glad. 

“Well, I guess that’s all, except that I’m having 
a dandy time with Cousin Bob but not equal to the 
time I had with you all on the desert. 

“Your old cronie, 

“Betsy.” 

“P. S.—I had a wonderful letter from Senor Tru- 
jullo Spinoza last week and he said, now listen to this, 
will you, Babs, that next winter, with his mother 
and sister, he expected to visit New York and would 
then, consider it an honoi if he might introduce to 
them the little maid (that’s me) who aided him so 
skillfully in finding the papers that have restored to 
them their possessions in Sonora. 

“Whoopla! Just like that! 

“Once again, your 

“Betsy.” 


244 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


How they all laughed when this letter was read 
aloud. “Imagine those courtly Spanish people try¬ 
ing to hob-nob with our hoidenish Betsy. It can't be 
done," Barbara declared, but Virg, smiling, added; 
“I'm not so sure. I think perhaps a serious youth 
like Trujillo might be very much attracted to a 
piquant merry little maid who is so very different 
from the senoritas to whom he has been accustomed, 
but then, since Betsy is still such a child, we will not 
need to plan a romance for her.” A moment later 
she added: “Why, where are Malcolm and Peyton?” 

The two lads had withdrawn from the group and 
were deeply ingrossed in a conversation which 
seemed to be of a serious nature. 

When they turned back toward the group, Vir¬ 
ginia said to her adopted sister: “I know what they 
are going to tell us just as well as though I had al¬ 
ready heard it. Brother will say, ‘Virg, I have re¬ 
ceived letters that inform me that my presence is 
needed—' she got no farther, because the lad was 
indeed saying something of a very similar nature. 
It was, however, to their hostess that he addressed 
his remark. “We've had a wonderful time at your 
house party, Eleanor,” he said, “and, although the 
time for our visit is not yet up, I feel sure that you 
will understand when Peyton and I say that, for 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


245 


business reasons, we feel we must be returning' to 
Arizona. The girls may remain longer if they wish.” 

He glanced, as he spoke at Margaret, and her 
sweet face flushed. Well did the lad know that she 
would not want to remain when he departed. It was 
Virginia who added: “I, too, think it best to re¬ 
turn,” she said quite unexpectedly. “I dreamed last 
night that dear Uncle Tex was ill. I did so hope 
that there would be a letter from him, but there is 
none; and so I, too, shall be eager to go for, after 
all, Malcolm and I are all the family he has.” 

“Well, I am indeed sorry to have you leave a 
week sooner than you planned,” the hostess told 
them, “but of course I won’t be as lonely as I would 
have been had I not found Hugh Ward.” There 
was an expression of tenderness that could not be 
hidden in the girl’s eyes when they turned to look 
at the tall graceful lad. “Then, moreover, Dad will 
be coming soon. But,” and she held out a hand to 
each of the girls nearest, Margaret and Virginia, “it 
has meant a great deal to me to have my dear friends 
with me. I would have been very lonesome coming 
alone to a strange place, but now all is so different. 
This lovely place, in some way that I cannot explain 
even to myself, seems more like home to me than 
any other in which I have lived.” 


246 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


Benjy had received a letter from his mother, and 
though she had declared that she was glad that he 
had gone with his friends, still she hoped he would 
return soon, as there would be a long school year 
when again they would be parted. So he, too, was 
eager to be away. 

“Jean, what train can we get out of your little 
valley station, say, early tomorrow morning ?” It 
was Malcolm inquiring. 

“There is a limited that stops only when it is 
flagged. It passes through Torrence Valley about 
seven-thirty.” 

“That's powerful early,” Malcolm replied, “but if 
Mr. Treadwell is willing to take us over in his Ford, 
we surely can make it.” 

And that is just what happened. The sun was 
just rising when they reached the top of the first 
grade and, to the joy of the girls, they saw a won¬ 
derful sight. There was a fog hanging low over the 
sea and they were above it. “A tumbled shining 
mass of mist like a celestial sea,” Virg suggested. 

Jean was waiting at the store to join them, and 
they waved goodbye to the kindly Mrs. Swiggett and 
the storekeeper, then, with a car filled to the over¬ 
flowing (the bags had been roped on the running 
board), they descended to the valley and had not 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


247 


two minutes to spare before the limited rumbled in 
and seemed to begrudge the time that it took to stop, 
for away it started again before the departing young 
people could turn to wave farewell to the two who 
were left on the platform. 

“I’m glad we are going home/’ Margaret smiled 
up at the giant lad who, as a matter of course, had 
taken the seat beside his ward, and he, smiling down 
upon her, thought happily of how much more that 
home was going to mean to them in the future. 

Peyton longed to break his promise and beg Vir¬ 
ginia to tell him if he might hope that some day 
he was to win her love, but he did not. He contented 
himself with being with her. Babs and Benjy, sit¬ 
ting opposite them, chattered so continually that 
Peyton’s silence was not noticed, at least not by 
them. Virginia noticed it and believed that she 
understood, but, as yet, she did not know her own 
mind, and so she, too, avoided any subject that might 
lead to the one she believed, and truly, was oftenest 
in Peyton’s thought. 

And then after a day and a night, Silver Creek 
station was reached, and to Virginia’s great joy, 
Slim and Uncle Tex were both there to meet them 
in the big touring car with several of the saddle 
horses in tow. 


248 VIRGINIA'S ROMANCE 

“Oh, but it’s good to be back.” Virginia ran at 
once to the old man whose eager eyes had been 
watching every car of the long train in search of the 
darling of his heart. His arms were outstretched 
to receive her. “Ah wish as how you ail’d promise 
to stay a spell now at V. M., Miss Virginia dearie. 
Ah sartin’ do wish you’d promise yo’ ol* Uncle 
Tex.” 

Kissing him on his leathery cheek, the girl prom¬ 
ised, and, too, she meant to keep her word. 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


249 


CHAPTER XXVI. 

Virginia's decision. 

Malcolm was eager to be back in the harness 
and, directly after lunch, with Uncle Tex and Slim 
he rode away as the two faithful friends who had 
been in charge during his absence were anxious to 
show him all about the ranch. 

Benjy had departed at once for the North, having 
obtained, before he would leave, a promise from 
Babs that she would visit his mother at least a week 
before she returned to school. Peyton was pleased 
to have his sister accept, believing, and truly, that 
she would be glad to do so. 

“By that time I’ll be past-master in the fine art of 
sewing buttons on coats,” the boy told her. 

Babs was a little disappointed that she and her 
brother were not to ride to the North that afternoon. 
Not that she was eager to return to Three Cross 
Ranch, but because she would have liked to accom¬ 
pany Benjy that far on his journey. However, she 


250 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


was glad that the boy was so eager to see the mother 
who had sacrificed so much for him that he could 
not wait until the morning to depart. 

Moreover, Babs guessed, and truly, that Peyton 
wished to have a visit alone with Virginia before he 
rode to the North, as it would be at least a fortnight 
and perhaps a month before they would return. The 
lad seemed so restless as the hours passed and Virg 
continued to be occupied about her home that his 
sister at last came to the rescue. 

Drawing the young mistress of V. M. aside, she 
said softly, “Virginia dear, won’t you have pity on 
brother and take him for a ride that he may have 
a real visit with you alone?” 

“Why, of course I will, if you think he would like 
to go.” Then as she chanced to glance out of the 
window near, she saw the alluring trail that wound 
to the very top of Inspiration Peak. How long, how 
very long it had been since she had ridden there on 
her pony, Comrade. That was where she had gone 
to find the solution of every problem that had pre¬ 
sented itself, and the girl knew that, at last, she was 
face to face with the most vital problem that would 
ever come to her. It could no longer be put off, nor 
was she sure that she wished to postpone it. The lad, 
about whom they had been talking, was sauntering 


VIRGINIA'S ROMANCE 


251 


about the doorway, his arms folded and his eyes 
upon the sand. He whirled with an eager, expectant 
expression when he heard Virginia hailing him, and 
he returned to the ranch house veranda on a bound. 

“I was wondering if you would like to ride with 
me to the top of the Inspiration Peak Trail,” the girl 
said, and her gaze was so direct and her voice so 
friendly that though the lad was indeed glad to 
accept, it was with a heavy heart that he turned and 
walked by her side down to the corral. Somehow 
he seemed to see ahead of him a vista of long, lonely 
years. Virginia did not really care, of that he was 
convinced. But he would find out, he could not 
longer be kept in doubt. 

For a long half hour these two were silent. The 
Dry Creek was crossed and the foot of the first 
mountain in the Seven Peak Range was reached. 
Then it was that Virginia turned in her saddle and 
smiled at the lad who was following her. “Peyton,” 
she said as she drew rein and waited for him to come 
alongside, “Tell me, friend of mine, has something 
happened to sadden you? I never knew you to be 
so silent or so preoccupied. Surely you have not had 
bad news from Three Cross, have you? Hasn’t 
Lucky been as capable a foreman as Malcolm be- 


252 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


lieved that he would be ?” Then as another thought 
presented itself, “Your father isn’t ill, is he?” 

“No, dear girl. I was just wishing that I had the 
courage to ask you to release me from a promise 
that I made on that moonlight night, you recall the 
one, when you and I sat on the great old boulder and 
talked of the future.” 

Virginia flushed slightly, but her direct gaze did 
not leave the eager, imploring eyes of the boy. 

She hesitated as though hardly knowing how to 
reply. “I’ll be eighteen in just a few months now,” 
she said. 

“I know you will, Virg.” The boy leaned over 
and placed a strong, brown hand on the whiter one 
that was lying on the horn of Comrade’s saddle. “I 
know it, but when I tell you that each hour I am 
away from you is like an eternity, you will better 
understand what an unending length of time just a 
few months will mean; but, Virg,” his voice was 
pleading, “if only I could know that there is hope, 
real hope that some day I may have your love, then 
the months will not drag but will leap along joyfully, 
for hope has wings, but doubt shackles. I just can’t 
accomplish anything at Three Cross. I don’t seem 
to want to plan to make the place a home, not just 
for myself. Dad doesn’t want to come to the desert 


.VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


253 


and Barbara tells me that she is wild to go to a 
girls’ college; she and Betsy have one selected, and 
that will mean that she will be away at school for 
five years more and then, of course, she will marry 
Benjy or some other nice boy, and who will there 
be to care for me?” 

The girl was touched by the wistful expression 
that she saw in the sensitive face of the lad, and she 
placed her free hand over his as she replied: “Pey¬ 
ton, there are other girls in the world—many, many 
others—who are more attractive in every way than 
I am.” 

“There is no one else for me.” The lad’s tone con¬ 
vinced his listener that he, at least, was convinced 
that this was so, nor did she doubt the depth of his 
love. 

“Peyton dear,” she said, and the boy realized with 
a sad heart that it was much the same voice in which 
she would have said “Malcolm dear,” but he looked 
up eagerly, he could hardy wait to hear what she 
was to say, “we are now at the bottom of the trail. 
ILet us begin the ascent and climb without talking. 
I want to think and I will give you my answer when 
we reach the top of Inspiration Trail.” 

Then she released her hands and Comrade, hear¬ 
ing the familiar chirrup, started up the narrow frail 


254 


VIRGINIA'S ROMANCE 


where, perforce, they rode slowly and single file. 
Peyton looked up to the far-away peak that towered 
above them. It would take more than half an hour 
to make the ascent, and then, when he reached the 
top, what would be the verdict that he was to hear ? 
Was he to be banished into eternal loneliness and 
misery, or was he to be made ideally happy with the 
companionship and love that he so yearned to have ? 

The poor boy did not feel hopeful, but, wisely, 
he would not permit himself to despair until he could 
know the truth, and so he tried to interest himself 
in the grandeur of the scene that lay below and be¬ 
yond him. Peak after peak rose, each higher than 
the other, the canyons deep in shadow while out- 
jutting boulders glearner in the sun. The “Saw 
Toothed Range” it was sometimes called, but of all 
the seven mountains none was more beautiful than 
the one they were ascending. Bushes along the trail 
flaunted flowers of blue and gold, kept moist even 
far into the dry season by some hidden spring. Then, 
as they went up higher, the cedars with their restful 
dark green came more and more into evidence and, 
at last, the plateau on the very peak was reached, 
and Virginia waited for the lad to ride alongside 
again, and when she glanced at his white strained 
face the girl uttered a little cry and, reaching out her 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


255 


hand, she said contritely: “Oh Peyton, I am so 
very very sorry.” 

And the boy knew his verdict had been given. 

“I don’t wonder that you can’t care for me.” The 
hopelessness in the boy’s voice made the girl want 
to cry. “I’m not worthy of you—no one is.” 

“But, Oh Peyton dear, dear friend, it isn’t that! 
You are the very nicest, finest lad I know, except 
Brother, of course, and it isn’t because I do not care 
for you, but I have so wanted to make my life count 
for something; I have wanted to do something really 
worth while. Please don’t misunderstand me, Pey¬ 
ton,” she hurried on, seeing an expression in the 
lad’s face which was one of self-condemnation and 
utter misery. “I don’t mean that being your wife 
would not be worth while, but, after all, it would be 
a selfish life, just making a happy home for we two, 
when the world, the world back East in the big cities 
is teeming with people, with poor little unloved, un¬ 
cared-for children, and I thought that, before I de¬ 
vote my life to just being happy myself, I ought to 
try to do something for them. Dont you understand, 
Peyton ?” 

The lad bowed his head as one who could do 
naught else but be resigned. “Yes, I understand,” 
he said dully. “Perhaps you are right. Let us go 


256 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


down, dear. I think Babs and I would better be 
starting for Three Cross. It will be moonlight to¬ 
night and if we can start by four, we will be home 
by eight at the latest.” Then he smiled, though his 
sensitive mouth quivered. “You see, after all, I did 
call it home.” 

“Of course you did, Peyton dear, and, too, we are 
really near neighbors. I shall remain at V. M. until 
after Margaret and my brother are married. Then 
they will not need me and I shall go back to Boston, 
I think, to a tenement district which I one time 
visited and see if I can’t help.” 

The boy, now that he knew the truth, seemed to 
find strength to face it more bravely than he had 
the crushing doubt. “And you will be a wonderful 
help, Virginia. Just to know you, will brighten the 
lives of many a mother and brood of little ones. 
God forgive me for having been selfish enough to 
ask you to give your wonderful self just to me.” 

There were tears in the girl’s eyes that were lifted 
to his. “Thank you, Peyton, for making it easier for 
me to do what seems to be my duty.” 

The lad did not remind her that if she really loved 
him, she would not be able to make the plan, that is, 
she could not leave him out so wholly, but he knew 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


257 


that this was so and the hurt of it was deep in his 
heart. 

Barbara was indeed surprised when her brother 
suggested that they ride to Three Cross at once. 

“Why, Buddy,” she said, “I thought we were to 
remain until morning. I thought you wanted to 
stay as long as you could with Virginia.” But when 
Babs saw a fleeting expression of pain in his face, 
she understood. “Very well, dear,” she said, “I’ll 
get ready right away.” 

Half an hour later Margaret and Virg stood, arms 
about each other, on the wide front veranda, waving 
every now and then to the two who were slowly 
riding up the mesa trail. To the surprise of Megsy, 
when the riders had disappeared, Virg leaned her 
head on her friend’s shoulder and sobbed. It had 
been very, very hard for her to hurt Peyton, just as 
hard as it would have been for her to hurt Malcolm, 
she assured herself. Tactfully, Margaret said noth¬ 
ing but, kissing her sad foster-sister tenderly, she 
led her indoors. “Dear, you are very tired,” she 
said, “won’t you go to your room and rest until 
supper time?” Virg needed no urging. She did so 
want to be alone. 

“Poor girl,” Megsy thought as she took up her 


258 


VIRGINIA'S ROMANCE 


sewing, “I wish she could care for Peyton as I care 
for Malcolm.” 

Then she curled up in the window-seat to watch 
for the return of the one of whom she was thinking, 
and she smiled happily as she began to sew dainty 
lace on a sheer muslin garment, for Margaret was 
beginning her trousseau and into each stitch went a 
happy dream. 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


269 


CHAPTER XXVII. 

Virginia's indecision. 

The days of August droned like busy bees. They 
were very hot and the two girls spent many hours 
indoors or in the shelter of their summer-house by 
the little lake which seemed to be fanned by every 
breeze that found its way over the mountains, but 
at this time of the year there were few of them. 
Margaret seemed to grow in prettiness and a sweet 
maturity. “Virg,” she confided one day when they 
sat under the blossoming vine in the little rustic 
house, a basket of sewing on the small yucca stalk 
table between them, “Malcolm has been urging me 
to set the date for our wedding and I have decided.” 

The other girl looked up with interest. “Have you, 
dear? What day did you choose?” 

“I didn’t exactly choose it; I calculated it,” was 
the purposely perplexing reply. 

“How did you do it?” Virg dropped her sewing in 
her lap to question. 


260 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


“Well, to begin with I want to complete my sew¬ 
ing of course, and so I estimated how long it would 
take us, working together as we are now, to make 
all that we have planned, and I found that it will all 
be finished on your eighteenth birthday. Shall you 
mind, Virg, if I choose that for our wedding day?” 

“Mind, dear! Rather I shall feel honored, in¬ 
deed.” There was a little pang in her heart, for, 
had Peyton kept the promise he had made, on her 
eighteenth birthday she would have been giving him 
his answer, but perhaps, after all, it was better that 
it had been given. Now she need give the matter 
no further thought, and dear, good Peyton need not 
be kept in suspense. But the fact that she need give 
the matter no further thought seemed in no way to 
prevent her doing so, for, as the two girls sat sew¬ 
ing, each on a garment for the trousseau, Virginia 
found her thoughts often wandering across the 
shimmering desert to the North, where they would 
always stop at Three Cross Ranch. She wondered 
what Peyton was doing. By this time, surely, Babs 
would be visiting on the Wilson ranch and so Pey¬ 
ton would be alone. 

“And, Oh, so sad and lonely,” a thought, that she 
did not invite, often told her. 

“Margaret,” she said suddenly, “do you mind if 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


261 


I tell you about the work I plan doing in the Boston 
tenement section after you are married ?” 

“Why, dear, I am always glad to listen to any¬ 
thing you wish to talk about.” Virginia had told 
Margaret the day after Babs and Peyton had re¬ 
turned to Three Cross that she felt she had a mission 
in life, and that was to try to make up to the un¬ 
wanted, unloved babies of the world something that 
had been denied them. Margaret had kissed her 
tenderly and had said: “My wonderful sister, I wish 
I were as unselfish as you are, but I’ll have to own it. 
I’d rather make just Malcolm happy, and be kind to 
whoever happens by.” 

And so it was not news to Megsy that Virginia 
planned returning to the East, but what she did not 
know was that this departure was to take place soon 
after Malcolm’s wedding. This she told her adopted 
sister as they two sat sewing in the summer-house 
by the little lake which Uncle Tex had made. 

The girl, listening, dropped her sewing in her lap. 
“Why, Virg, I shall feel that I am driving you away 
from your very own home if you leave right after 
our wedding. I am sure Malcolm will feel badly to 
have you do that. Have you told him?” 

“No, I haven’t,” Virg confessed. “I haven’t told 
him that I plan going East at all. I don’t know as 


262 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


I will tell him quite yet, but, Megsy, just after you 
are married is the logical time for me to go. Then, 
if ever, you and Malcolm will want to be all alone, 
and since I really want to go East soon, I think I 
will plan to start the day after your wedding.” 

“Poor Peyton!” Margaret had not intended say¬ 
ing that, but unintentionally she was thinking aloud. 

“He thinks so now,” Virginia said, “but some day 
he will meet someone who doesn’t feel a call, such 
as I am convinced that I have.” Then, to change 
the subject, she held up the garment on which she 
had been sewing. “The lace is all on. Shall I run 
in pink or blue ribbons ?” 

Margaret, knowing that Virginia did not want to 
talk of Peyton, spoke of the wedding. “Of course 
I just want our own friends. I do wish Winona and 
Harry could be here, and Babs and Benjy.” 

“If I were you I would write Winona to Red 
Riverton, telling her the date, and then she can plan 
to be present.” 

And so the days passed with the two girls happily, 
busily sewing and planning, and, at last, it was but 
a fortnight before the eighteenth birthday of the 
young mistress of V. M. 

She arose before daybreak and rode alone to the 
top of Inspiration Peak. How strange it seemed 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


263 


that the birthday, which was to usher her into young 
womanhood, was to mean so much more to her 
brother and his bride than it was to her. She was 
not to be the one this year, who would be crowned 
and feted, as she had been on her seventeenth birth¬ 
day. She sat for a long time on the back of Com¬ 
rade watching the sun rise and remembering all that 
had happened on that birthday which seemed so 
very, very long ago. 

Winona and Harry had been there; in fact, that 
was when they first began to know each other, and 
now they were married and ideally happy. How 
beautifully everything had turned out. Then as the 
rising sun gilded the mountain peaks and flung its 
glory wide, illumining many a canon that had been 
waiting in purple dusk, the girl’s thoughts went even 
further back to that ride she had taken up to the 
top of this very trail on Inspiration Peak, the time 
when she and Malcolm had received the perplexing 
letter that their father had a ward of whom they 
knew nothing. 

What if they had not decided to send for her? 
How wonderful it was for Malcolm that they had. 
Dear, serious, ever-busy Malcolm, who, perhaps 
might never have cared for anyone, nor could Vir- 


264 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


ginia have chosen anyone for a sister more to her 
liking. 

Then, as the full-risen orb assured her that break¬ 
fast would soon be ready at V. M., she turned and 
rode back down the trail, listening to the tipsy song 
of a canon wren and feeling the cool breeze, as yet 
unwarmed by the sun, as it fanned her cheeks and 
tossed her hair. 

“I'm glad I came up,” she said, “for soon, very 
soon now I will be living in another canon; one that 
is made of high brick walls, so narrow that a sweet 
fresh breeze can never enter, and where the song of 
a bird is never heard.” Then, as Comrade stopped 
on a level stretch quite of his own accord, the girl 
flung out wide arms toward the valley below. “Oh 
Father,” she said, as though it were a prayer, “how 
I would that instead of going into that narrow, stif¬ 
ling canon of city walls to comfort your babies, I 
could bring them all out here, here into this won¬ 
derful country where they could breathe fresh air and 
grow, as You planned that they should.” 

Again Comrade was descending the trail and 
Virg, shading her eyes, saw a horseman coming 
around the Three Sand Hills to the North. Why 
her heart tripped to double time, she could not guess. 
Perhaps it was Slim returning from a ranch beyond 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


265 


Silver Creek, but if it were, he would]be coming more 
from the West than from the North. “It might be 
Peyton, but I cannot see why he would come now 
when, in such a very little while, merely a matter of 
days, he will be coming again to Margaret's wed¬ 
ding.” 

It was Peyton, nevertheless and for some reason, 
for he could not have seen her, he drew rein where 
the trail divided, one part leading over the mesa and 
down to V. M., the other going in quite the opposite 
direction and toward the Silver Creek Station, and 
on to Douglas. 

“How strange that he hesitates,” the girl thought. 
“Surely, Peyton would not pass so near our home, 
even though he is only going to Douglas, without 
stopping to take breakfast with us.” 

Then another thought presented itself. “How 
very, very strange that he should be here at all just 
after sunrise. He must have left Three Cross about 
midnight, as that was the length of time it would 
take to make the ride unless”— the girl hastened her 
horse—“unless he had had a mishap or had been 
ill and had in consequence been delayed.” 

She was leaving the shelter of the canon out of 
which the trail wound, and, for a moment, a rise of 
the desert hid from her the horseman sitting so still 


266 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


at the dividing of the trails. When she could again 
see him, it was with a sense of real disappointment, 
for he was riding toward the station at Silver Creek. 
What could it mean? The fact that he had paused 
proved that he had thought of going to V. M., but 
he had decided that he would not do so. 

The girl urged Comrade into a gallop and, as she 
ascended to the opposite bank of the dry creek, she 
noted with a glad heart that the lad had dismounted 
to adjust the girth. But again she was dismayed, 
for on the back of his saddle his suitcase was 
fastened. 

Then she knew that he must be going away some¬ 
where on the train. Hardly knowing what she did, 
Virginia started Comrade on the running lope which 
the small horse so enjoyed, and, too, she gave the 
call which Peyton knew so well. Instantly he stood 
erect and waved his sombrero. Then leaping to his 
saddle, he galloped to meet the girl whom he loved. 

“Virginia,” he said, and his voice choked, “how I 
did want to see you, but I knew it would make it all 
the harder for me to go away—afterwards—but 
Fate decided the matter for me and here you are.” 

“I have been up on Inspiration Peak,” the girl 
said, wondering why her heart continued to beat so 
rapidly; then she inquired: “But Peyton, where are 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


267 


you going?” Then, as the lad hesitated, she con¬ 
tinued: “To Chicago, perhaps, to make arrange¬ 
ments for a shipment of cattle.” 

But Peyton shook his head. “No, I’m going 
farther than that. To South America, I now think.” 

The girl looked her dismay. “But, how about 
Three Cross?” 

“I think I shall sell it. Until I do, Lucky will be 
glad to stay.” 

“But why, why?” the girl knew the answer even 
as she spoke. “Oh, Peyton,” she half sobbed, “am 
I driving you away from your home?” 

The lad looked at her with infinite tenderness, but 
he said sadly: “I have no home. There is a house 
and vast acres and many cattle, but there is no home. 
But, Virg, please let me say goodbye. I may miss 
the morning train. I must ride to Douglas to check 
my baggage. Lucky drove it in for me yesterday 
by the new road that has been put through two miles 
north of us. I came this way because—” he 
hesitated. 

The girl’s smile was tremulous. “Because you 
didn’t want to see me.” 

The boy held out both hands. “Goodbye, dear, 
dear Virginia,” he said, then leaping to his saddle, 
away he galloped, and Virg sat on the back of Com- 


268 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


rade as still as a statue for long after he had left her. 
Would he turn and wave to her? But he did not, 
he could not. Soon the cotton-wood trees, growing 
in that part of the creek which, much of the year, 
held a pool of water, hid the horse and rider, and 
the girl, dazed and troubled, turned and rode slowly 
home. And only last year on her seventeenth birth¬ 
day she and Peyton had planned to be together on 
this her eighteenth. 

It was a strangely listless girl who joined the 
other two in the ranch living-room. Margaret, as 
ever these days, was radiantly happy in her quite way 
and there was a glow in the eyes of the giant lad 
when he looked at her that filled the heart of his sis¬ 
ter with a sense—was it of loss? No, surely not 
that, for she had not lost her brother and she had 
now, even more than before, a dear sister. That she 
had not lost him was assured her when the lad, not¬ 
ing that she had entered the room, sprang up and 
held out his arms. “Dear sister,” he said, “Megsy 
and I are making wonderful plans for the coming 
year that shall include we three.” 

Virginia spoke hesitatingly. “Margaret hasn't 
told you then?” 

The lad looked alarmed. Virg, he could plainly 
see, was much affected about something. It was the 


VIRGINIA'S ROMANCE 


269 


other girl who replied: “No, dear I have not told. 
You asked me not to. You wanted to tell Malcolm 
yourself.” 

“Yes, I know,” she replied. “I did and do. Shall 
I tell now?” 

Surely there were tears in the eyes that were lifted 
inquiringly, “Dear girl,” her brother held her close, 
“how selfish, how .engrossed in my own happiness I 
have been, that I did not before see that something 
is troubling you.” He led her to the lounge and sat 
beside her, holding her hands in a firm clasp. “Has 
something, someone hurt you, dear, dear Virginia,” 
he asked. 

“No, no! Her smile was bright, though her lips 
quivered. She must not sadden these two who had 
been and should be so radiantly happy. She meant 
to tell him that she was going to Boston directly 
after they were married to help in the slums, but to 
her own amazement she heard herself saying: “Pey¬ 
ton has gone, he has left the desert—forever.” 

Margaret had seated herself on the other side of 
her sister-friend. “Why, Virg, he is merely going 
because you told him that you could not care for 
him,” she said. 

“I know! I know I did! But I was mistaken. I 


270 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


do care! Oh, I care so very much and now he is 
gone. How can I tell him ?" 

The girl was actually sobbing, her head bent on 
the broad shoulder of her brother. 

Gently he lifted her face and kissed her tear-wet 
cheeks, then he rose. “Where is Peyton, sister of 
mine ? If it isn't too late, I’ll bring him back.” 

“It is too late, I guess. He was going to Douglas 
and he is already there, I am sure, and then he was 
to take the train for—Oh I dont know where for. 
He said he was going to South America.” 

“I know the train,” Malcolm spoke with decision. 
“I’ll stop it at the junction if I possibly can. It doesn't 
usually stop, not even for flagging, but I’ll do my 
best, sister. I'll bring Peyton back if it is a human 
possibility.” 

Then he caught up his sombrero, leaped to the 
door, not even passing to say goodbye to his sweet¬ 
heart, and, three minutes later the girls saw him 
galloping past the window on the horse that luckily 
had been waiting just outside saddled and ready for 
his morning ride. 

“Oh, I'm afraid it’s too late,” Virginia walked to 
the window and looked out toward the mesa, then 
she turned back, her lips quivering, though she tried 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


271 


to smile: “Megsy,” she said impulvisely, “forgive 
me for clouding these happy days for you. ,, 

But Margaret’s shining eyes did not look unhappy. 
“Oh sister, sister of mine,” she cried joyfully, “I’ll 
tell you what let’s do. Let’s have a double wedding 
on your birthday.” 


272 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


CHAPTER XXVIII. 

WEDDING BELLS. 

Peyton had been looking out of the window as 
Silver Creek station was reached and, upon seeing 
his good friend Malcolm watching the train with in¬ 
tense eagerness, he had rightly interpreted it to mean 
that he, for some reason, was wanted. With a sud¬ 
den, mad joy, that he could not understand, making 
his heart to pound, he leaped to his feet, seized his 
suitcase and catching the emergency cord, he jerked 
it, almost before he realized the seriousness of his 
act. The engineer would, of course, think some dis¬ 
aster lay ahead of him. There was an instant grat¬ 
ing of the brakes and, before many minutes, the train 
came to a standstill. 

The lad leaped to the platform and, without a 
word to Malcolm, he raced to the engine. The face 
of the man leaning from the cab window was at first 
frowning, then as he heard the story the lines 
changed into cheerful grin. “Say,” he said, “I know I 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


273 


ought to sue you, but I won't. I was in your shoes 
once.” He leaned way out, “Put it there!” he ended. 
Then there was a shrilling of whistles as orders were 
given, and the train was again under way. 

Peyton turned to his really astonished friend with 
a smile of apology. “I don’t know what you have 
to say, Malcolm,” he told him, “but whatever it is, 
I know I don’t want to go to South America. I’ll 
stay and take my medicine like a man.” 

Malcolm did not tell him what that medicine was 
to be. He merely said: “Let’s borrow a horse from 
Mr. Wells. Virg wants to tell you something.” 

Then Peyton allowed himself to truly rejoice, for 
surely Virginia would not have sent for him unless 
it was to tell him that she had changed her mind 
and that she really cared. 

Nor was he wrong, but what these two had to say 
to each other is too sacred to share. 

But the results were that, when Winona and 
Harry, Barbara and Benjy rode in to V. M. on the 
morning of Virginia’s eighteenth birthday, they 
found that there was to be, not only one bride, but 
two, and great was the rejoicing. 

Virginia, of course, had not had time to make a 
new dress for the occasion and she said she was glad, 
as she would much rather wear the lovely white 


274 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


gown her dear girl friends had made for her seven¬ 
teenth birthday party. 

“It’s the very thing/* Babs prattled, “for every 
bride should have something old and something new, 
something borrowed and something blue.** 

“The something ‘new* is a gift from Margaret/* 
Virg confided, “and it fits me perfectly, though I 
am a little larger than my sister.** 

The something borrowed was a necklace of pearls 
that Barbara*s mother had worn when she was a 
bride, and the something blue was a clump of for¬ 
get-me-nots from the garden that Uncle Tex had 
made for her and which that dear old man brought 
to her and held out with hands that shook. “Oh, 
you dear, dear Uncle Tex,** the girl said as she put 
her arms about his neck and kissed his leathery 
cheek. “Of course I shall never, never forget you, 
and what is more, you are going to Three Cross 
with me, that is, if you want to, if you would rather.** 

Malcolm, with arms folded, was standing in the 
background watching the old man who had been 
their father’s overseer. He and Virg had planned 
this speech, at Virginia’s suggestion, and they both 
wondered whether Uncle Tex would rather go with 
his beloved Miss Virginia, or stay in the old home. 
They were not long in doubt. His old face worked 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


275 


and twice he opened his lips, as though he were going 
to speak, and his faded eyes were shining with unshed 
tears. When he did find his voice he said, as he 
turned away: ‘‘Ah reckon you all does need me to 
take keer of yo’, Miss Virginia dearie. Ah reckon 
ah’U go now and pack my saddle bags.” 

Then came the minister from Douglas riding on 
his black horse. Malcolm had offered to send for 
him, but he had replied that he liked, now and then, 
to take a long ride over the desert quite by himself. 
The Mahoys were there, the little girls in stiffly 
starched dresses and equally stiff pigtails with pert 
little ribbon bows on the end of each one. As for 
Patsy, he was very elegant in a cut-down blue suit 
of his father’s with a high collar in which a reef had 
been taken. To a casual observer, these youngsters, 
lined up flat against the wall, would have seemed to 
be all eyes. This was indeed a very wonderful occa¬ 
sion as their rosy-cheeked mother, who stood near 
them, had assured them time and again. Pat Mahoy 
had come in from the mines and stood close to his 
wife, looking at her from time to time with an 
eloquence that plainly told his love and his pride. 

Uncle Tex had once more, at Virginia’s urging, 
donned the linen suit which he had worn on that long- 
ago day when she had induced him to take a part at 


276 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


“play actin',” and pretend that he was Margaret’s 
guardian, but this time he was not self-conscious. 
It was to him a very wonderful day. His dear old 
wrinkled face beamed on one and all and he shook 
hands twice with Winona and Harry, and Hal laugh¬ 
ingly told the old man that he looked as happy as 
though he were to be married himself. The mere 
question of such a calamity, however, sobered the 
elderly cattle man at once. “Marryin’s not for me,” 
he said, “but Miss Virginia now and Peyton, they’ll 
make as handsome a couple as will Miss Margie and 
Malcolm, too, for that matter.” 

For a moment Virg and Peyton had slipped away 
to be alone, and the lad, catching both hands of the 
girl, who did indeed look a vision of loveliness, ex¬ 
claimed radiantly: “Darling girl, I feel just a bit 
guilty because I am to keep you all to myself; guilty 
because I know how much you wanted to help the 
little neglected waifs in the big cities.” 

But the girl looked up, her face aglow. “Oh, 
Peyton,” she cried happily, “you needn’t feel the least 
bit guilty, because I am going to do just that.” 

An expression of consternation crossed the face 
of the lad. “Why, dear, how can you, so far out here 
on the desert?” 

“It’s a wonderful way,” the girl told him. “I read 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


277 


it in the Chicago paper only yesterday. You know 
brother takes the big weekly for the stock-yard 
news.” 

The lad nodded, still puzzled. “Well, in a little 
tucked-away story I read a Hull House report, and 
it said that last summer there were hundreds of frail 
children who might have been made well and strong 
if only homes on western ranches had been open to 
them, and, Oh Peyton, I haven't said anything yet. I 
thought I'd wait until we were married, but don't 
you think we could build us a smaller home? That 
old Spanish house is much too large to be cosy, and 
couldn't we have some of those children visit us? 
We could put long rows of little cot beds in that big 
old salon. The Hull House pays their transporta¬ 
tion, all we would have to do is feed them and Uncle 
Tex would just love to cook for them, and I’ll 
mother them and we’ll provide them with ever so 
many burros to ride, and when they go back, Peyton, 
can't you just see them with their little faces wind- 
brown and their little bodies strong and active, as 
God meant His babies to be, can't you, Peyton?” 
There was a wistful eagerness in the query. 

“Of course I can, darling,” the lad replied. “And 
we'll have a wonderful time with the kiddies, I know 
that we will.” 


278 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


“Thank you dear,” the girl said and stood on tip¬ 
toe to kiss the lad who was just that much taller. 
Then Babs appeared and called: “Come on, you two. 
It’s time to begin.” 

The wedding was a very simple, sweet affair, and 
the two girls, who so loved each other, stood to¬ 
gether with a lad on either side of them. 

Mrs. Mahoy confessed afterwards that, for a 
minute, she had been “panicky” for fear the wrong 
girl was standing in the wrong place, though she 
might have known they wouldn’t get mixed even if 
she did. 

An hour later while refreshments were being 
passed, Babs exclaimed, “Here comes Dicky Wells, 
the station-master’s boy. He’s waving a yellow en¬ 
velope. I suppose it is a telegram of congratula¬ 
tion.” 

And it was, one from Eleanor, Virginia read 
aloud: “Dearest friends, one and all: When I found 
that I could not be with you today, I decided that at 
least I would share in your joy. 

“Standing beneath the painting of dear Aunt 
Myra that she might witness our happiness, Hugh 
Ward and I were married at the same time that you 
were, and so, you see, it was a triple wedding.” 

“Dear, dear, Eleanor. I’m so glad for her and 


VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


279 


for Hugh,” Virginia said, smiling up at Peyton. 
Then she added, “How beautifully it has all ended.” 

“Ended?” Peyton shook his head. “No, little 
wife, the wonderful part has just begun.” 

Margaret smiled at her friends, and, taking Mal¬ 
colm's hand, she said: “Grow old along with me, for 
the best is yet to be.” 


The End. 



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